The completion of the Greek effort for the timely utilization of the resources of the Recovery and Resilience Facility is marked by the submission to the European Commission of the final payment requests, totaling 6.75 billion euros, of which 4.4 billion euros concern grants.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the Special Coordination Service of the Recovery Fund and attended the electronic submission of the final requests for the disbursement of the resources to which Greece is entitled under the National Plan “Greece 2.0”. The two requests include a total of 123 milestones and targets. With their submission, the process of submitting payment requests by Greece is completed and the final phase for the utilization of European resources begins. At the same time, two previous payment requests are currently under evaluation by the European Commission and, if the process is completed positively, will lead to the disbursement of an additional 4.55 billion euros.
Overall, upon completion of all the required procedures, Greece is expected to receive the full amount of resources allocated to it from the Recovery Fund, amounting to 35.95 billion euros. According to the government, this is the highest amount relative to GDP among the 27 member states of the European Union.
The completion of the submission of the requests comes after a five-year process, during which Greece was called upon to implement a total of 376 milestones and targets, linking disbursements to specific reforms and investments.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking to the officials of the Special Coordination Service, stressed that this process created significant expertise in public administration, as it required unprecedented, as he said, coordination between ministries and services. “The great beneficiaries in the end are Greek women and Greek men, who see that in the end not a single euro was lost,” the prime minister said, noting at the same time that the country responded to the doubts that had been expressed regarding its ability to absorb the available European resources. He placed particular emphasis on the legacy that the Fund leaves at the level of public administration.
As he noted, the administration acquired internal expertise for the implementation of complex projects with strict timetables and specific targets, without depending exclusively on external consultants. According to the prime minister, the change concerns not only knowledge of procedures, but also the creation of a different administrative culture, based on targets, evaluation and measurement of results. As Kyriakos Mitsotakis recalled, Greece then secured approximately 36 billion euros in grants and loans, which were directed to investments, reforms, the digitization of the state, health, education, energy and other sectors.
The Greek plan “Greece 2.0” was designed on the basis of specific targets and timetables and included a wide range of interventions in the economy and in the functioning of the state. The prime minister noted that the successful completion of the program does not mean the end of the utilization of European resources, as the expertise that was created should also be utilized in the next European financing instruments. Kyriakos Mitsotakis thanked the officials who worked for the implementation of the program. “The fact that this expertise is now internal expertise of the Greek administration” constitutes, according to the prime minister, an important achievement that goes beyond the immediate economic benefits of the program.
According to the data presented, the implementation of “Greece 2.0” has contributed to the rise of real GDP by 11 points by 2025, to the creation of almost 600,000 jobs and to the increase of investments as a percentage of GDP by 60%.The government staff attributes a significant part of the investment and reform mobilization of recent years to the Fund, arguing that the effects of the program will continue to be reflected in the economy even after the completion of the funding period.
A significant part of the resources was directed to projects that directly concern citizens' daily lives. In the health sector, the program included the upgrading of more than 200 public hospitals and health centers, as well as the development of the free preventive examinations program. In the field of labor, the digital work card was implemented, while in the tax sector nearly 500,000 cash registers and POS were connected to the AADE. In education, the program financed the installation of interactive boards in classrooms from the 5th grade of primary school in public schools, as well as the operation of the free Digital Tutoring program. At the same time, significant funding was directed to the expansion and upgrading of the Public Sector's digital services through gov.gr.
SOURCE: ANA