In her statements, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, congratulated Greece and pointed out that “the country has made sufficient progress in the implementation of its national recovery plan”.
The “green light” for the disbursement of 3.56 billion euros, subsidies and loans from the Recovery Fund, the European Commission lit today Friday, which is expected to happen at the beginning of 2023 and after a series of ratifications of a more procedural nature.
In her statements, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, congratulated Greece and pointed out that “the country has made sufficient progress in the implementation of its national recovery plan”.
This development came later from the completion of a total of 28 milestoneswhich had been set in the context of the implementation of the relevant contractual obligations of the country arising from the framework governing the Fund.
It should be noted that together with the 2nd tranche, the total amount that has been approved reaches 11.1 billion euros, an amount that represents 37% of the funds allocated for Greece by the Recovery Fund.
According to reliable sources from Brussels, Greece met earlier the milestone of the loans, which had to be contracted by the end of the year and which represented a loan amount of 586.4 million euros.
In the meantime, officially, the contracts between financial institutions and investors officially exceed 629 million euros, while according to sources from the Greek capital, the amount is close to 1 billion euros.
According to European Commission sources, Greece is one of the four countries that have submitted a request for a second tranche, but also the 2nd country for which the relevant approval is being promoted.
The same sources reported that they have significant steps have been taken regarding with the course of implementation of the Recovery Plan.
The 25 milestones for the grants are for the 1st semester of 2022 and a 3rd installment request should be made within the next year for the achievements of the 2nd semester. In the field of loans, the three milestones cover the entire period up to the end of the year.
The process envisages that after the first positive evaluation by EFC and after a series of procedures, the final approval will take place at Christmas. According to the plan, the disbursement will take place in 2023.
It should also be noted that of the 3.56 billion euros in installments, 1.72 billion euros are grants and 1.85 billion euros are loans. The payment request was submitted by Greece in September.
Greece, as foreseen in the relevant planning, can receive up to 2026 the amount of 17.43 billion euros in grants and 12.73 billion euros in loans. Greece’s first request for payment was positively assessed by the Commission on 28 February 2022, and the first installment of €3.56 was made available on 8 April 2022.
Finally, it should be noted that among the milestones of this tranche are the program for the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, the interconnection of payment terminals with the tax administration, the provision of incentives for green and digital investments, and subsidies for investments in the sectors of tourism, manufacturing and agriculture.
The official announcement of the European Commission states the following:
“The European Commission today approved a positive preliminary assessment of Greece’s payment request for an amount of €3.6 billion — €1.7 billion in grants and €1.9 billion in loans — under the Recovery and Resilience Facility ( MAA), of the core tool of NextGenerationEU.
On 30 September 2022, Greece submitted to the Commission a payment request based on the achievement of the 28 milestones and targets set out in the Council’s implementing decision for the second tranche. They cover reforms and investments promoting the use of renewable energy sources to make the electricity market suitable for a high share of renewable energy sources. They also include reorganizing the rail sector to develop, operate and maintain a modern rail network, opening up the public bus transport market to improve services and promoting a greener bus fleet. Other reforms and investments support the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the interconnection of payment terminals with the tax administration, the provision of incentives for green and digital investments by the private sector, the encouragement of small business growth and exports, the strengthening supervision of capital markets, creating new funding opportunities for research and encouraging new investment in tourism, manufacturing and agriculture.
Along with their request, the Greek authorities submitted detailed and complete data demonstrating the fulfillment of the 28 milestones and targets. As required by the MAA Regulation, Greece has also confirmed that measures related to milestones and targets that have been satisfactorily met in the past have not been withdrawn. The Commission thoroughly evaluated this information before presenting its positive preliminary assessment of the payment request.
Greece’s recovery and resilience plan will be supported by €17.4 billion in grants and €12.7 billion in loans, of which €4 billion was disbursed to Greece as pre-financing on 9 August 2021. A first Greek request for payment was positively assessed by the Commission on 28 February 2022, and consequently €3.6 billion was disbursed on 8 April 2022.
Payments under the MAA are performance-based and dependent on Member States implementing the investments and reforms set out in their recovery and resilience plans.
Next stages
The Commission has now sent its positive preliminary assessment on Greece’s fulfillment of the milestones and targets required for the payment in question to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), seeking its opinion. The ODE’s opinion, which is to be issued within four weeks at the latest, should be taken into account in the Commission’s assessment. After the opinion of the ODE, the Commission will issue a final decision on the disbursement of the financial contribution, according to the examination procedure, through a committee of comitology. The disbursement to Greece will take place following the issuance of the decision by the Commission.
The Commission will evaluate further payment requests from Greece based on the achievement of the milestones and targets outlined in the Council’s executive decision and reflecting progress in the implementation of investments and reforms.
The amounts disbursed to Member States are published in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, which shows the progress of the implementation of the national recovery and resilience plans.’
Statements of the members of the Commission
The President of the European Commission, Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, said: “Excellent news for Greece today. The country has made sufficient progress in implementing its national recovery plan to receive a second NextGenerationEU payment. Once the green light is given by the member states, Greece will receive 3.6 billion euros. Greece is pushing forward ambitious reforms in key sectors such as renewable energy, rail infrastructure, public transport and the digitization of SMEs. Greece is also encouraging new investment in tourism, manufacturing and agriculture. Importantly, it has also met its commitments in terms of accounting and other controls to protect taxpayers’ money. So congratulations to Greece! The road to recovery continues and the Commission stands by your side.”
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