Business & Economy

European Commission approves 30.5 billion euro Greek recovery plan

Athens, Jun 17 (EFE).- The European Commission endorsed Thursday Greece’s recovery and resilience plan, paving the way to unlock a total of 30.5 billion euros in grants and loans to the Kyriakos Mitsotakis administration to boost the pandemic-battered Greek economy and labor markets.

A first payment of 7.8 billion euros is expected to be disbursed in July, if the European Council gives final approval.

Athens is the third stop of EC President Ursula von der Leyen’s tour around European capitals granting approval of national plans for the five-year 800 billion euro EU recovery fund.

Mitsotakis received von der Leyen in the classical agora of Athens, and delivered a presentation of the Greece 2.0 investment scheme, with which he expects to create close to 200,000 jobs by 2026 and increase GDP by seven percentage points.

From the total 30.5 billion euros, 17.8B will be in grants and 12.7B will be in loans to the Greek state.

“The plan is ambitious and will help build a better future for the Greek people. It can reshape Greece for decades ahead,” said the Commission president. “We will stand with you every step of the way.”

The Greece 2.0 plan includes extensive public investment into the green economy and digitalization, as a condition imposed from Brussels.

As much as 38% of the investments will be assigned to the green transition, one point over the 37% required minimum, and digital transformation will account for 22% of the funds, two points over the minimum demanded by the EU. EFE

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