The European Commission announced on Thursday the payment of 20.9 million euro in grants, as pre-financing linked to the REPowerEU funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which will go towards saving energy and producing clean energy.
This pre-financing will help to accelerate the implementation of key investment and reform measures described in the REPowerEU chapter of the national Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The objectives of the REPowerEU plan include energy savings, the boosting of the production of clean energy, and the diversification of energy supplies, with a view to making Europe independent of Russian fossil fuels following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as in the context of the green transition.
Pre-financing is paid in one or two stages and can represent up to 20% of the additional funds requested to finance each country’s REPowerEU chapter. If the pre-financing is paid in two stages, the second part must be paid within 12 months following payment of the first part.
Along wi
th Cyprus, the Commission has announced the release of pre-financing of 145.1 million euro to Belgium and 585.1 million euro to Croatia in the form of grants and loans, as well as 25.4 million euro to Finland, 158.7 million euro to Greece, 551.2 million euro to Italy, 26.9 million euro to Latvia and 288 million euro to Romania in the form of grants. Also, 340 million euro in pre-financing are going to Spain in the form of loans.
The payments follow the Council of the EU’s approval of these countries’ revised plans, which include a REPowerEU chapter, and the signing of financial agreements. The Council has approved all 23 REPowerEU chapters that have been presented to date.
Source: Cyprus News Agency