The European Commission announced today its positive preliminary assessment of Greece’s 4th payment request for the grant leg of Recovery Fund amounting to 1 billion euros, announced by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance.

The request for payment for the part of the grants was submitted at the beginning of June and related to achieve 20 milestones and objectives of the Greek plan.

These included, among others, the contracting of projects such as electrical interconnection of the Cycladesh renovation of OAKAthe forest protection programs Anti-nero I and II, n improving road safety in the road network of Municipalities and Regions, the security upgrade of the 13 regional airports, as well as reforms such as the Codification of the Income Tax Code and the Tax Procedure Code and the upgrade of the Justice delivery system.

The European Commission has already sent its positive assessment to the Economic and Financial Committee, which in turn will announce its opinion within four weeks, as stipulated in the relevant Regulation. This will be followed by the issuance of the final decision, for the disbursement of 1 billion euros.

To date, 794 projects and bundles of projects, with a budget exceeding 22 billion euros, have been implemented in the Grants section of the Recovery Fund. Of these, 7.8 billion concern green transition projects, 2.5 billion concern digital transformation actions, 5.7 billion concern actions to strengthen employment, skills and social cohesion, while 6.1 billion concern in aid for private investment and the transformation of the economy.

The Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, Nikos Papathanasissaid in this regard: “The new positive assessment for the disbursement of 1 billion euros from the grant arm of the Recovery and Resilience Fund, did not fail, it succeeded. It is the result of the achievement of the prerequisite milestones, after the continuous and determined work of every body involved.

With the same seriousness and discipline in the reform objectives, with the same adherence to our commitments to our fellow citizens, we continue to keep Greece in the first countries in terms of disbursements of the Recovery Fund, so that European resources can be catalysts for its development perspective country. With the same consistency, we create new and more jobs, increasing disposable income for everyone.”

The administrator of the Recovery Fund, Orestis Kavalakissaid: “Today’s positive assessment by the European Commission on the request for the payment of the Recovery Fund grants comes to reconfirm the steady course of the implementation of the goals and milestones we have in front of us. With the disbursement of the 1 billion in grants, we will have disbursed more than 50% of the resources allocated to the country. With speed and efficiency we implement projects and promote reforms that give impetus to the development of the economy and improve the daily life of citizens”.