NextGenerationEU: Commission receives payment request from Croatia for EUR 700 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Yesterday, the Commission received the second payment request from Croatia under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for a disbursement of EUR 700 million in financial support (net of pre-financing). Croatia’s overall recovery and resilience plan will be financed by EUR 5.51 billion in grants. Payments under the RRF are performance-based and contingent on Croatia implementing the investments and reforms outlined in its recovery and resilience plan. The second payment request relates to 25 milestones and targets, and include the new Social Welfare Act and training of social professionals, as well as the establishment of funding instruments to strengthen access to funding for businesses and a Decision on incentives for the voluntary functional and actual mergers of the local government units (LGUs). It also covers important energy measures such as the assessment of the barriers to higher uptake of renewable energy sources (RES) and the adoption of the Hydrogen Development Strategy. The Commission now has two months to assess the request. It will then send its preliminary assessment of Croatia’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee. More information on the process of the payment requests under the RRF is available in this Q&A. More information on the Croatia recovery and resilience plan is available here.