Greece Submits €3.6bn RRF Payment Request to European Commission

Photo source: European Parliament / ©BELGA/AFP/L.Gouliamaki

The European Commission said this week it would be assessing in the next two months a request made by Greece for the disbursement of 3.6 billion euros in financial support under the EU’s post-Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Greece submitted the request for the first pre-financing payment – 1.73 billion euros in grants and 1.84 billion euros in loans – on December 29. Disbursement is expected by March.

The first payment will cover 15 milestones, including several reforms and investments in the areas of energy efficiency, sustainable mobility, waste management and civil protection, labor market policies, healthcare, tax administration, justice, business extroversion, and the audit & control system linked to the RRF.

Among the first countries to request its financing package and to submit its national plan dubbed “Greece 2.0”, Greece is set to receive a total of 17.77 billion euros in grants and 12.73 billion euros in loans.

All payments to Greece under the EU’s RRF scheme are performance-based and contingent on the implementation of investments and reforms outlined in Greece’s submitted plan.

The Commission said in its statement that it will over the next two months assess the request and will then send its preliminary findings of Greece’s fulfilment of required milestones and targets to the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee (EFC).

 Under the EU financing and loan agreement, Greece has already received a total of 3.96 billion euros in pre-financing funds since the beginning of August.