European Commission pays Estonia €126 million out of recovery fund
The European Commission on Friday paid Estonia €126 million of the European Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which is 13 percent of the amount allocated to the state from the recovery fund.
"The pre-financing will help Estonia start implementing the measures set out in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. These include reforms and investments to increase energy efficiency and sustainable mobility and to improve the accessibility and resilience of the health care system," Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission said.
The Commission will authorize further disbursements in accordance with the implementation of the investments and reforms described in the Estonian Recovery and Resilience Plan. During the term of the plan, the state will receive a total of €969.3 million in subsidies.
Estonia plans to will invest €92 million in the introduction of renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency and €50 million in testing the hydrogen value chain. €96 million will be invested in sustainable transport, including the construction of a Rail Baltic terminal in Tallinn. The plan will also support a green transition for businesses, including €100 million through a green fund to fund innovative technologies.
The plan will invest €93 million in upgrading digital government services with the latest technologies. The digital switchover will also support 230 small and medium-sized enterprises with €58 million and invest €24 million in broadband internet connections in rural areas.
€280 million will be invested in the construction of a medical campus in northern Estonia, in addition, it is planned to alleviate the shortage of health care workers. €10 million will be invested in youth employment and the provision of long-term care will be expanded.
Since June 2021, the Commission has raised €71 billion for EU NextGenerationEU through long-term EU bonds, of which €12 billion has been raised through NextGenerationEU's first green bond issue.
On December 14, the Commission published a financing plan for the first half of 2022. The plan stipulates issuing €50 billion in EU long-term bonds from January to June 2022, plus short-term EU bonds. In addition, the Commission currently has around €20 billion worth of short-term EU bonds.
Part of the NextGenerationEU is the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which will provide €723.8 billion to support investment and reform in all Member States, supporting the green and digital revolution.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino
