ECOFIN approves Greece’s amended RRF plan; FinMin Hatzidakis welcomes approval

The Economic & Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) of EU finance ministers on Friday adopted implementing decisions approving the amended Recovery & Resilience plans of Greece and another 12 countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Romania).

Greece submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan in August, which includes a REPowerEU chapter. The European Commission’s REPowerEU plan was launched in 2022 to facilitate the diversification of the EU’s energy supply and to minimize dependency on Russian natural gas.

The plan contains strong provisions for the green transition, allocating 38.1% (up from 37.5% in the original plan) of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives, while the modified plan contributes to the digital transition with 22.1% of its funds.

The plan is now worth 35.95 billion euros, with 18.22 billion in Recovery & Resilience Facility (RRF) grants and 17.73 billion in RRF loans. Greek Minister of National Economy & Finance Kostis Hatzidakis, who attended the Ecofin meeting in Brussels on Friday, noted that three rather positive developments for Greece occured in the last couple of days.

First was Thursday’s Eurogroup approval of Greece’s Draft Budgetary Plan (DBP), he noted.

Next came the formal approval of the Recovery & Resilience Fund’s budget increase by 5.7 billion euros for Greece, “thus further strengthening the possibilities of beneficial interventions with a multiplier effect in the Greek economy, and with positive reports about the nature of the programs and reforms promoted by the Greek government.”

Finally, the progress made towards a new Stability Pact that will ensure both fiscal discipline and economic growth, while taking special care of countries with high defense spending, was another key development for Greece, noted Hatzidakis.