Today, the European Commission positively assessed Finland’s fifth payment request of pound 229.2 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.
This is an important step in the delivery of the reforms and investments tied to this payment request, in the areas of decarbonisation, environmental sustainability, green permitting, digitalisation, cybersecurity, social welfare and healthcare, continuous learning, research infrastructure and support for innovative growth in targeted economic sectors.
The Commission found that Finland has satisfactorily completed all the 10 milestones and 12 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.
Flagship measures in this payment request include: fuelling green research and development with new openings for research in key areas such as electricity storage, clean energy, energy efficiency, decarbonisation of industry and renewable hydrogen; strengthening competitiveness by supporting projects to help innovative companies grow internationally, reinforcing Finland’s strategic specialisation and its export-driven economic backbone; delivering on environmental sustainability by improving soil quality through the treatment of more than 50,000 hectares of fields with gypsum; reinforcing youth centres by deploying additional 100 professionals to provide health, education and social services to young people; and digitalising lifelong learning by creating new services and opportunities in continuous learning to address training needs and support guidance, competence development and career planning.
The European Commission is stepping up its support for Member States’ counter-drone capabilities with an additional pound 130 million under the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI), as announced at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 1 October. This is part of the EU’s efforts to strengthen border surveillance and improve responses to emerging security threats.
The new funding comes on top of an initial allocation of pound 250 million as announced in December 2025 and a further pound 169 million made available earlier this year to fund surveillance drones and related equipment for use by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, and Member States. This brings the total funding available for surveillance and counter-drone technology under the Home Affairs funds to more than half a billion euro.
The funding will help Member States reinforce situational awareness, better protect external borders and address risks linked to unauthorised or hostile drone activity. It reflects the Commission’s wider objective of equipping national authorities with modern tools to strengthen the EU’s external borders and increase internal security.
It builds on Commission’s continuous action to strengthen the EU’s drone and counter-drone capabilities. In February, the Commission launched the EU Action Plan on Drone and Counter Drone Security protecting airspace and critical infrastructure from malicious drone threats, including the creation of a Counter-Drone Centre of Excellence to support innovation in counter-drone systems.
It also complements funding already available to Member States under the European Defence Fund to develop advanced drone and counter-drone technologies. Through Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme, Member States also committed to jointly procure in drone and counter-drone systems.
Today, at the 10th EU-Moldova Association Council, the European Commission disbursed an additional pound 157 million to Moldova, reaffirming the EU’s support for the country’s reform path.
This third instalment under the Growth Plan for the Republic of Moldova follows the Commission’s positive assessment that Moldova had successfully fulfilled 18 reforms linked to the Growth Plan, covering all seven areas of the Plan: private sector development, economic resilience, economic governance, social cohesion and labour markets, energy, green transition, and good governance.
With this latest payment, the total amount made available to Moldova under the Plan reaches already pound 661 million. With this additional payment, Moldova continues to show steady determination and progress on this Reform Agenda, turning reforms into opportunities for the people and businesses.
The Commission continues to stand by Moldova on the implementation of the Growth Plan. This instrument has the capacity to support Moldova’s economic growth and job creation by accelerating reforms and improving the country’s access to the EU Single Market, thus bringing Moldova closer to EU membership.
More information can be found in the press release.
the European Commission published an EU analysis of the OECD’s PISA 2025 results, which confirms a sustained decline in basic skills among 15-year-olds across the EU.
The EU findings show that students underachieve in all three core domains: 33.9% in mathematics, 31.3% in reading, and 25.9% in science. This means the EU is moving further away from its 2030 target of reducing underachievement below 15% in each subject. Excellence is also declining. In 2025, the share of top performers in the EU stands at 4.8% in reading, 6.4% in science, and 6.8% in mathematics, well below the EU’s 2030 target of at least 12% in each subject. No EU country reaches the target in reading or science, and only two do so in mathematics.
The analysis also highlights major equity challenges. Disadvantaged students are around four times more likely to underachieve in science than advantaged students, while advantaged students are about eight times more likely to be top performers.
This analysis comes at a timely moment, ahead of the publication of the Education package this year, with which the Commission intends to propose measures to support Member States in reversing this trend and support them in future-proof education in the age of artificial intelligence.
Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, Roxana Mînzatu, said: ‘On World Teachers’ Day, we celebrate the confidence teachers build and the curiosity they inspire. They deserve the time, training and resources to do this vital work. Our upcoming Education package will help countries support teachers, strengthen basic skills and prepare education for the age of AI. Every young person should leave school with the skills and confidence to shape their own future’
The Commission has proposed several measures during this mandate, including the [https://action%20plan%20on%20basic%20skills%20(legal%20document)%20-%20european%20education%20area/]Action Plan on Basic Skills, the STEM Education Strategic Plan, the European Literacy Coalition, and the EU-OECD AI Literacy Framework for Primary and Secondary Education, amongst others. The EU PISA 2025 Policy Brief can be found online. More information can be found in the factsheet.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Commissioner for Climate, Net-Zero and Clean Growth, Wopke Hoekstra, will be in Fiji and Tuvalu to advance climate negotiations with global partners ahead of the COP31 United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Antalya, Trkiye, in November. Next week’s meetings follow the work already done at the Bonn Climate Change Conference in June this year.
In Tuvalu and Fiji, Commissioner Hoekstra is expected to reiterate the message of President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at her State of the Union speech in September, where she said that ‘Europe can, must and will stay the course on its climate targets’. Ahead of pre-COP, the Commissioner said: ‘Climate change is a challenge for all, but for the Islands it is existential. That is why the EU’s engagement at the pre-COP in Fiji is so important. The EU is staying the course on climate action and will continue to show leadership at COP. I look forward to engaging with all Parties and putting forward our priorities. Clean electrification needs to be at the heart of the discussion. We also need to accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement, guided by science, deliver on commitments already made, and ensure better access to climate finance, particularly for the most vulnerable.’
The Commissioner will attend the Pre-COP Leaders’ plenary meeting and will deliver remarks at the opening and keynote session ‘Keeping 1.5 within reach’, followed by a plenary discussion on COP31 priorities on Wednesday. He will also participate in high-level panels and thematic sessions focused on the energy transition, climate finance and community resilience in the Pacific, as well as on climate adaptation, mitigation and the just transition.
The Commissioner will also have a series of bilateral meetings in the margins of the event such as with the Trkiye and Australia COP31 Presidencies, the UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamad, UN Framework Convention of Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, and UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action and Just Transition, Selwin Hart, as well as with a series of ministers from Southeast Asia and Oceania. He will also visit a coastal adaptation Project in Tuvalu and take part in an exchange with local Tuvaluan community representatives around intergenerational unity and cultural resilience in face of climate change.