A request to the European Commission for claiming additional loan resources from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, amounting to 5 billion euros, in the context of REPowerEU was submitted today by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Theodoros Skylakakis.

According to a relevant announcement by the ministry, REPowerEU is the European Commission’s plan, which aims to make Europe independent of Russian fossil fuels, well before 2030, in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is a plan geared to:

– saving energy

– the production of clean energy

– the diversification of our energy supply

Fund utilization

The 5 billion euros will be used, primarily, for the financing of energy, private investments – through loans and venture capital – which will concern:

· Renewable Energy Projects (RES), e.g. solar and wind energy, biomethane, green hydrogen, etc.

· Energy efficiency projects, e.g. interventions in existing business buildings, upgrading infrastructure and increasing the efficiency of production processes

· Initiatives to promote “clean” transport

· Clean energy access projects such as off-grid solutions and distributed electricity networks

· Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) etc.

The logic of the request

The request was submitted given the successful course of the “Greece 2.0” loan program. For this part of the National Plan, there is a high interest from investors, as the loans are granted on extremely favorable terms (borrowing rate, fixed 0.35% for very small and small enterprises and 1% for medium and large ones), in the midst of a time during a period when, internationally, a rapid increase in interest rates is recorded.

It is recalled that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” already has approved European resources, totaling 30.5 billion euros, of which 12.7 billion euros are loans and the remaining 17.8 billion. euros in subsidies. Including REPowerEU resources, investments are expected to be mobilized, with a total budget of around 70 billion euros.

The Deputy Minister of Finance who is responsible for the preparation and coordination of the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, Theodoros Skylakakis, stated: “The loan part of “Greece 2.0″, amounting to 12.7 billion euros, aims, primarily, in strengthening the competitiveness of the country’s businesses, contributing, financially, to the implementation of their investment plans. With the request of the additional 5 billion euros, which we claim from the Recovery Fund, we are responding to the growing demand recorded for energy saving investments”.

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