Its preservation “dynamic” and “steady” implementation of Greece’s Recovery and Resilience plan, recommended by the European Commission, in the framework of the European Semester.

In its report on Greece, the Commission highlights that the recovery and resilience plan includes an extensive set of mutually reinforcing reforms and investments to be implemented from 2026. “The implementation of Greece’s recovery and resilience plan has so far progressed well. Going forward, it will be important to maintain the implementation momentum”the report specifically states.

It is recalled that Greece submitted three payment requests for non-refundable financial support and two payment requests for loan support, corresponding to 85 milestones and objectives of the plan. To date, in addition to pre-financing, Greece has received a total disbursement of 7.126 billion euros (3.436 billion euros in grants and 3.69 billion euros in loans). On 29 March 2023, Greece expressed its intention to request €5 billion of additional loan support under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

“Greece has made a solid start in implementing its plan and has established a management and control system to monitor and coordinate the timely completion of reforms and investments. In the future it will be important to maintain and strengthen these efforts taking into account the significant number of reforms and investments planned to be implemented, especially as the completion of some of them will require timely progress with various preparatory steps, including public procurement procedures”says the Commission’s report.

It is also pointed out that the continued implementation of the plan depends on the administrative and executive capacity of the competent implementing bodies, including regional and local administration.

According to the Commission, the rapid integration of the new REPowerEU fund into the recovery and resilience plan will enable the financing of additional reforms and investments to support Greece’s strategic energy and green transition objectives. “The systematic and effective involvement of local and regional authorities, social partners and other relevant stakeholders remains important for the successful implementation of the recovery and resilience plan, as well as other economic and employment policies that go beyond the plan, in order to ensure broad ownership of the overall political agenda”says the Commission’s report.

In addition, the Commission emphasizes that it has approved all the programming documents of Greece’s cohesion policy in 2022. “Continuing the rapid implementation of cohesion policy programs in complementarity and synergy with the recovery and resilience plan, including the REPowerEU fund, is key to achieving the green and digital transition and increasing economic and social resilience”the report notes.

Finally, the Commission notes that in addition to the economic and social challenges faced by the recovery and resilience plan, Greece faces a number of additional challenges related to healthcare and long-term care, land registry mapping, energy policy and the green transition .