Commission: Implementation of Greece's recovery and resilience plan progresses smoothly

The European Commission highlighted in its annual report that the implementation of Greece's recovery and resilience plan is progressing smoothly, though "increased efforts" are needed for timely execution.
According to the Commission's 2024 report on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), as of August 31, over 267 billion euros had been disbursed to 25 member states, from a total of 650 billion euros in grants and loans. By the end of 2024, more than 300 billion euros are expected to be disbursed, representing nearly 41% of the available RRF funding.
Specifically, regarding Greece's recovery and resilience plan, it is noted that it is funded with up to 18.2 billion euros in grants and 17.7 billion euros in loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for the 2021-2026 period representing 16.3% of Greece’s GDP22.
As of 31 August, 17.2 billion euros has been disbursed to Greece under the RRF, comprising  7.6 billion euros in grants and 9.6 billion euros in loans. Greece still has 18.7 billion euros available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 294 milestones and targets included in the CID23, ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.
Greece’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation,  158.7 million euros was disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms, including the facilitation of production of renewable hydrogen and bio-methane, optimisation of land and sea space usage for the development of renewables, and the promotion of energy sharing, energy communities and self-consumption. The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 38.1% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 22.1% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to fostering labour market activation and upskilling for employees and those unemployed.
With four payment requests completed, Greece’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Greece’s first, second, and third payment requests for nonrepayable support and for loans, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to 3.6 billion euros being disbursed in financial support on 8 April 2022;  3.6 billion euros on 19 January 2023; and 3.6 billion euros on 28 December 202324.
The related 86 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as those related to the Loan Facility, to make the electricity market fit for a high share of renewables, develop a modern railway network, promote a greener public bus fleet., and others in the areas of energy efficiency, waste management, labour market, taxation policy, business environment, public administration, and healthcare.
The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 16 July 2024, led to the disbursement of 2.3 billion euros on 23 July 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of one target, i.e. further progress in the delivery of the Loan Facility. This measure aims to mobilise private investments in areas such as the green and digital transitions, increasing export capacity, and research, development and innovation. As of 31 August 2024, the Commission was assessing Greece’s fourth payment request for non-repayable financial support.
Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Greece
Reform: Greece completed the first phase of a reform of the public administration, by simplifying and digitalising state procedures across a number of policy areas such as justice, citizenship, health and social welfare, transportation and logistics, shipping, and tourism, along with the upgrades and functional enhancements of relevant systems necessary to support the efficient execution of the new digitalised processes.
Investment: Greece is implementing a comprehensive strategy to increase the number of charging points for electric vehicles. To complement a previous reform that establishes a legal framework on the functioning of the electric vehicles’ market, Greece has launched a programme that supports local authorities and the private sector in installing of at least 4 500 charging points with at least 300 000 kW power capacity.