EU Commission Disburses €3.64 billion to Greece Under the RRF

The European Commission disbursed the third installment of financial support to Greece within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) on Friday. The payment amounts to 3.64 billion euros, comprising 1.69 billion euros in non-repayable financial assistance and 1.95 billion euros in loans without pre-financing. On May 16, 2023, and November 22, 2023, Greece submitted its third payment request to the Commission for non-repayable support and loans, respectively, covering 39 milestones and four objectives.

The overall recovery and resilience plan of Greece will be financed by 35.95 billion euros, with 18.22 billion euros in non-repayable support and 17.73 billion euros in loans.

The Commission disbursed payments to a total of six Member States under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Payments under the RRF are performance-based and contingent on the countries implementing the reforms and investments outlined in their recovery and resilience plans.

According to the official press release, Germany received the first payment under the RRF, amounting to 4 million euros. Germany submitted the first request for payment of 4 million euros to the Commission on 15 September having covered 28 milestones and 8 targets. The overall € 28 billion recovery and resilience plan of Germany will be financed in the form of grants.

The Commission also paid Italy the fourth payment for 16.5 billion euros of non-repayable financial support and loans (excluding pre-financing) under the RRF. On 22 September 2023, Italy submitted the fourth request for payment of 16.5 billion euros to the covering 21 milestones and 7 targets. The overall recovery and resilience plan of Italy will be financed by 194.4 billion euros of which 71.8 billion euros in the form of grants and 122.6 billion euros in the form of loans.

Finally, the Commission disbursed the third and fourth combined payment for 2.46 billion euros of non-repayable financial support and loans (excluding pre-financing) under the RRF to Portugal. In October 2023, Portugal submitted the third request for payment of the third and fourth grant installments (1.77 billion euros and 0.82 billion euros) and for the third and fourth loan installments (0.36 billion euros and 0.22 billion euros) to the Commission, covering 47 milestones and targets. On 13 December, the Commission adopted a partially positive preliminary assessment of Portugal’s request for payment, having found that one milestone and one target concerning reforms of the health sector and one milestone related to the reform of regulated professions had not been satisfactorily fulfilled. The Commission acknowledged the steps already taken by Portugal to fulfill these outstanding milestones and targets, though important work remains to be done. The overall recovery and resilience plan of Portugal will be financed by 22.2 billion euros in the form of grants and loans.

Moreover, the Commission paid the third payment of € 662 million in grants of non-repayable financial support (excluding pre-financing) under the RRF to Slovakia. On 25 September, Slovakia submitted the third request for payment of 662 million euros under the RRF to the Commission, having covered 21 milestones and six targets. The overall recovery and resilience plan of Slovakia will be financed by 6.4 billion euros in the form of grants.

Furthermore, the second payment to Slovenia for 225.91 million euros of non-repayable financial support (excluding pre-financing) and 310.09 million euros of repayable support under the RRF was paid today. On 15 September, Slovenia submitted the second request for payment of 536 million euros under the RRF to the Commission, covering 43 milestones and three targets. The overall recovery and resilience plan of Slovenia will be financed by 1.61 billion euros in the form of grants and 1.07 billion euros in the form of loans.

The amounts of payments made to Member States are published on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, which shows the progress made in the implementation of the RRF as a whole and of the individual recovery and resilience plans.