The third payment request from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RAF) were submitted to the European Commission by the Greek authorities, through the person responsible for the implementation of the “Greece 2.0” National Plan, Deputy Minister of Finance, Theodoros Skylakakis.

From this specific request, 1.72 billion euros will flow into the state coffers, which pertains to the “Greece 2.0” part of the subsidies. With the addition of this amount, the liquidity from TAA resources will be 12.8 billion euros.

It is worth pointing out that our country is among them three first EU-27 member states who filed the third payment request from TAA. Italy and Spain complete the trio. At the same time, there are four states that have submitted two payment requests, eleven that have only submitted the first request and nine states that have not yet submitted a payment request.

Some of the most important milestones achieved by the Greek authorities – leading to the submission of the third payment request – concern, first of all, in terms of investments, residential renovations through the “Ecocomo” program, the launch of the “Charge everywhere” program, the contracting of urban plans and grants tenders for public digital transformation projects. At the same time, in terms of reforms, the institutionalization of multi-level governance was completed with the clarification of responsibilities, the new Pothen esshes, the National register of Mitos procedures, the National action plan to combat corruption, the Judicial Charter, the legislation on employment in the cultural sector and for industrial parks etc.

It is noted that the regulatory reforms were implemented under the coordination of the General Secretariat of the Government, which reports to the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, while the responsible General Secretary is Thanasis Kontogeorgis. The Special Service of the Recovery Fund (EFSTA), under its Governor, Nikos Mantzoufa, monitors the implementation of the investments.

“Greece 2.0” implementation timeline:

➢27.4.2021: “Greece 2.0” was the second National Plan submitted to the EU. On 17.6.2021 it received its positive evaluation and on 13.7.2021 the approval of ECOFIN.

➢ 9.8.2021: Pre-financing was disbursed, amounting to 3.96 billion euros, which corresponds to 13% of the money allocated to Greece by the TAA.

➢ 21.12.2021: Greece was among the first countries to sign the necessary Operational Arrangements with the Commission.

➢29.12.2021: Greece became the third country (after Spain and France) to submit the first request for payment (3.56 billion euros), keeping to the schedule provided in the Operational Regulations.

➢28.2.2022: The EU published its positive, preliminary assessment on Greece’s first payment request.

➢8.4.2022: The disbursement of the first installment was made, in the context of “Greece 2.0”.

➢30.9.2022: The Greek authorities submitted the second payment request (€3.56 billion) from the TAA. Greece was one of the first five countries to request the disbursement of the second payment from the TAA. She was, in fact, the first to submit a request for the third payment (loan program).

➢25.11.2022: The EU issued a positive preliminary assessment for the request of 30.9.2022.

➢9.1.2023: The Commission responsible for the EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism approved the EU executive decision for the disbursement of €3.56 billion.

The Deputy Minister of Finance and responsible for fiscal policy and the Recovery Fund, Theodoros Skylakakis, said: “Greece is a pioneer in the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. We are among the first three EU-27 member states to submit the third payment request from the Recovery Fund. We use, consistently and with absolute seriousness, the possibilities offered by this valuable financial tool for the development course of the Greek economy”.