The European Commission today approved a positive preliminary assessment of Greece's fourth payment request for €2.3 billion in loans (excluding pre-financing) under the NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.

Following the assessment of the payment request submitted by Greece on April 17, 2024, the Commission has come to the preliminary conclusion that Greece has satisfactorily completed one of the targets set in the Council Implementing Decision for the fourth loan tranche, as the Commission stresses in a statement.

The payment request covers important steps to implement investments that will promote positive changes for citizens and businesses in Greece in the areas of green transition, digitalization, increasing export capacity, economies of scale, and innovation.

The target in this payment request requires the signing of cumulative MFA loan agreements of EUR 4.5 billion by financial institutions with companies to support private investment. It is part of the loan facility, which is the largest measure in Greece's recovery and resilience plan.

Mr. Nikos Papathanasis, the Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, stated: "The European Commission's new positive preliminary assessment of the 4th request for the disbursement of an additional €2.3 billion from the loan component of the Recovery Fund, following similar decisions on the successful implementation of the National Plan "Greece 2.0" so far, is yet another reward for the country's consistency in meeting the pre-required milestones of the Recovery Fund."