The Recovery and Resilience Facility: Joint ECF and CIE recommendations for the national recovery and resilience plans

At the occasion of today’s high-level Mayor’s debate with the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) are jointly calling for 10 bn Euro in cycle investments from the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRP) to help Europe address the unprecedented economic and health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This guide highlights three key elements to help you deliver investments for cycling:

1. The political context for cycling in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans;
2. The ECF/CIE cycling proposals for your National Recovery and Resilience Plan;
3. Guidance an where to put the cycling proposals in your National Recovery and Resilience Plan according to the EU template.

672.5 billion Euro are to be invested in EU Member States through the Recovery and Resilience Facility to address the economic and public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has brought a lot of hardship to millions of European citizens, it led at the same time to an unprecedented surge in cycling.  More than 2,300 km of pop-up bike lanes have been announced by European cities, according to the ECF COVID Cycling Measures Tracker, and bicycle sales continue to boom.

The European Commission has identified the carbon intensity of the transport sector, pollution, congestion, job creation and social resilience as key challenges that NRRPs need to address. Cycling and the cycling industry are uniquely positioned to deliver on these challenges in the shortest possible period of time.

See full document with Joint ECF and CIE Recommendations here.