The European Commission made, on 27 December 2021, a first payment to Spain of €10 billion in non-repayable financial support (excluding pre-financing) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
On 11 November of that same year, Spain had submitted a first payment request to the Commission for €10 billion for 52 steps covering reforms in the areas of sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, decarbonisation, connectivity, public administration, skills, education and social policy and labour and fiscal policy (see EUROPE 12829/24).
The overall plan for Spain’s recovery and resilience will be financed with €69.5 billion in grants.
In addition, on 29 and 30 December, the Commission received the first payment requests from Greece and Italy. Athens had sent a request to the Commission for a disbursement of €3.6 billion in financial support (net of pre-financing). The request relates to 15 milestones covering several reforms and investments in the areas of energy efficiency, sustainable mobility, waste management and civil protection, active labour market policies, healthcare, tax administration, justice, business extroversion, and the audit and control system linked to the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The overall recovery and resilience plan for Greece will be financed by €17.77 billion in grants and €12.73 billion in loans.
Rome, for its part, has requested €21 billion of financial support (net of pre-financing). The payment relates to 51 milestones covering several reforms in the areas of areas of justice, public administration, audit and control, education, active labour market policies, digital and tourist sectors as well as simplification of legislation in sectors like waste, water and rail transport.
Italy’s overall recovery and resilience plan will be financed by €68.9 billion in grants and €122.6 billion in loans.
The Commission now has two months to assess the requests. It will then send its preliminary assessment of the two countries’ fulfilments of the milestones and targets required for these payments to the EU Council’s Economic and Financial Committee. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)