Brussels, 22 March 2023
Today’s payments are made possible by Czechia and by Slovakia’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets linked to their first and second instalment, respectively.
Czechia is receiving €928 million in grants thanks to its fulfilment of the 31 milestones and 6 targets linked to the first instalment. These cover important measures, such as reforms in the areas of school curricula to promote digital literacy and digital skills, of eHealth, and of the country’s audit and control system for the implementation of the RRF. Czechia has also improved the transparency of its system of avoidance and management of conflicts of interest by amending its law on the registration of beneficial owners. Several targets concern major investments for the reconstruction of three railway bridges and 45 safer railway level crossings, as well as digital tools for education.
Czechia’s overall recovery and resilience plan will be supported by €7 billion in grants. Czechia has already received over €1.8 billion in grants under the RRF. This includes the €915 million in pre-financing it received in September 2021 and today’s disbursement.
Slovakia is receiving €709 million in grants thanks to its fulfilment of the 14 milestones and two targets linked to the second instalment. These cover reforms in the areas of education and training, healthcare, research and innovation, schemes to attract skilled workers, reforms to boost digitalisation and make the economy more circular, as well as measures to fight money laundering and to accelerate procurement procedures. The payment also covers investments aimed at the protection of nature and biodiversity.
Slovakia’s overall recovery and resilience plan will be supported by €6 billion in grants. Slovakia has already received over €1.9 billion in grants under the RRF. This includes the €823 million in pre-financing it received in October 2021, the first payment of €399 million received in July 2022 and today’s disbursement.
As for all Member States, payments under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU, are performance-based, and depend on Czechia and Slovakia implementing the investments and reforms outlined in their respective national recovery and resilience plans. The amounts disbursed to Member States are published in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, which shows progress made in the implementation of the RRF as a whole and of the individual recovery and resilience plans.
More information on the RRF payment claim process can be found in this Q&A.
Source – EU Commission