The fifth disbursement request from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, amounting to 3.1 billion euro submitted today to Commission the Deputy Minister of Finance Nikos Papathanasis. It is simultaneous duplicate request for grants and loans, which concerns 32 milestones and targets, the ministry says in a statement.

Specifically, our country applied the disbursement of 1.3 billion euro from the leg of grantsafter reaching 29 milestones, and 1.8 billion euro from the leg of loansthrough 3 milestones, after readjustment in order to finance the two new housing programs “My House II” and “Upgrading my House”, totaling 1.3 billion. euros of TAA resources.

To date, our country has successfully completed four payment requests and the total amount of disbursements to Greece from the resources of the Recovery Fund amounts to 18.2 billion. euros, an amount that exceeds 50% of the total budget of the National Plan “Greece 2.0». In the near future, when the evaluation by the European Commission of the 5th request submitted today is successfully completed, the total disbursements to Greece will now amount to 21.3 billion. euros, i.e. at a rate of 64% of the total resources attributable to it.

Some of the most important milestones fulfilled for the submission of the 5th payment request concern the contracting of projects such as: the preparation of urban plans in 750 municipal units throughout the territory and more than 65 strategic urban renewals in the country’s municipalities – among which the renewals of the Botanical and Athenian Riviera – the forest protection plan for the prevention of fires (“antiNERO”), reforestation as well as anti-erosion and anti-flood projects in the Evros and Rhodopes, more than 20 innovation centers in Universities and 70 Research Excellence Partnerships of Greek Universities with the private sector, the progress of implementation of projects such as the completion of the energy upgrade 8,000 additional housing within the Program “I save at home“, the support of small and medium-sized enterprises by “I save in the Tertiary Sector” and “I’m changing device“, the launch of new energy saving programs, as well as the promotion of broader reforms such as: the acceleration of VAT refunds, the completion of 85% of land registration by the National Land Registry, the legislative framework for the transition to fast broadband connections, etc.

Accordingly, for the loan arm, the milestones concern the contractualization of TAA loan resources amounting to 7.064 billion. euros as well as in the signing of the operational agreements with the Hellenic Development Bank for the activation of the housing programs “Spiti my II” and “Upgrading my Home”.

The Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, Nikos Papathanasisstated: “The submission of the 5th request for the disbursement of resources from the Recovery Fund, after the completion of new milestones and reforms as well as the inclusion of important interventions to improve entrepreneurship, infrastructure, the green transition and the daily life of citizens, is another practical proof of the Government’s commitment to achieving the goal of double convergence with the rest of Europe in terms of income and equal sustainable and fair development between the Regions of the country. With the determination and efficiency that brought and maintains Greece in the first positions of absorption among the EU member countries, we accelerate the structural changes that the country needs, we put into practice our commitments to our fellow citizens, making available every available euros from the European resources we secured, for the benefit of society and the economy”.

The Minister of State, Akis Schertsosunderlined: “In this payment request – the 5th in a row – that Greece completes and files on time, we have met 12 more critical reform milestones, having now covered almost 50% of the reform commitments we have made in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0 ». The main areas of reform interventions are: the operation of the new water and wastewater regulator, speeding up the administration of justice (with the implementation of the new judicial map), fighting tax evasion and promoting electronic payments, tax reform of the self-employed and stamp duty, the full activation of the myData system, the fully automated VAT refund process, the amendment of the National Strategy for Public Contracts 2021-2025, the acceleration of land registration, the new system of incentives and rewards for civil servants to improve the operation of public administration, the implementation of the national plan for the simplification of procedures (national register of administrative procedures; MITOS, 2nd phase) and the transition to fast Gigabit broadband connections. Greece manages to record twice the growth rates of the rest of Europe because, at the same time as the many public investments it implements, it also implements an ambitious network of reforms that increase the efficiency of these investments both for society and for the economy. Our goal is to continue with the same pace and the same faith in the many positive changes that the Recovery Fund brings to the lives of citizens and especially the most vulnerable groups of the population.”

The Deputy Minister in addition to the Prime Minister, Thanasis Kontogeorgisnoted: “The successful submission of the 5th request proves the persistence of the Government in the implementation of its reform program as well as in the fulfillment of all milestones related to investments, beneficial for the economy and society. We will continue on the same path until the completion of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan – Greece 2.0, in order to make the most of it for the benefit of all Greek citizens. We have 20 months of intensive work ahead of us until the completion of the program and the cooperation of all those involved and commitment to the goal are required.”

The Governor of the Recovery Fund, Orestis Kavalakissaid: “The 5th simultaneous payment request for the grants and loans of the Recovery Fund has been submitted to the European Commission, thus completing the second payment request in 2024. The submission of the 5th request in addition to the expected significant inflow of resources for the country signals the progress made in reforms and projects to strengthen employment, support entrepreneurship and upgrade the daily life of citizens”.

The General Secretary of Coordination, Evi Dramaliotis underlined: “In cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the Special Recovery Fund Coordination Service (EFSTA), we completed the procedures for submitting the 5th payment request, which includes 12 reform milestones. The impact of the reforms and investments of the Recovery Fund is becoming even more visible in critical policy fields such as the acceleration of land registration, the fight against tax evasion, the simplification of the business environment and the digitization of services provided by the state to citizens.”