In July 2020, the European Council agreed on a plan to help Member States’ recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The agreement has important implications, writes Professor Erik Jones, but challenges remain. One crucial factor is whether the Member States succeed in managing their recovery and resilience plans. (2021:11epa) In July 2020, the European Council agreed on a new mechanism – Next Generation EU – to fund a €750 billion financial support to help member states’ recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In this European Policy Analysis, Erik Jones, professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, describes both the intense bargaining leading up to the agreement and its implications. Highlighting the important differences of principle between Member States, he underlines that Europe came to agreement and not consensus.