Greece submits grant request | eKathimerini.com

Athens will likely submit its fourth request for a 1-billion-euro grant from the Recovery Fund on Thursday, as the issue of late milestones, which was a condition for its submission, has been settled.

According to information from the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, the European Commission has accepted that the two delayed milestones be postponed and replaced by others that related to a later installment but have already been satisfied. The two milestones that have not yet been passed concern the approval of 9,700 applications for the Exikonomo program for businesses and the awarding of urban regeneration contracts at Votanikos, in western Athens.

Of the €36 billion of the Recovery Fund allocated to Greece, €18.2 billion comprises grants and €17.7 billion loans. On April 17 Deputy Minister Nikos Papathanasis submitted the fourth loan payment request of €2.3 billion, separating it for the first time from the grant payment request. The reason was the delay in meeting the prerequisite milestones of the grant.

Finally, with a delay of a month and a half, the grant request is also submitted, without all the prerequisites having yet been met, which shows the difficulties that will exist in the future in the absorption of resources. Only two years and three months remain until the end of the fund’s period.

At least the Commission, which is not currently discussing an extension of the Recovery Fund, has agreed to apply flexibility rules. In this context, it also accepted the exchange of milestones between installments, which allows Athens to submit the fourth grant request.

Greece has so far met 23% of the milestones, while it has collected 41% of the resources it is entitled to, which ranks it among the top four countries. It has collected grants of €7.59 billion and loans of €7.29 billion.

However, as the Bank of Greece has pointed out, only 14% of the resources to which the country is entitled have so far reached businesses, which acts as a brake on the growth rate.