The European Commission (EC) announced on Tuesday that it is greenlighting Slovakia's revised recovery and resilience plan worth €6.4 billion, up from €6 billion. It includes 64 reforms and 60 investments, including the new REPowerEU chapter.
Slovakia proposed several changes to the original plan, such as a wider range of renewable energy sources eligible for financial support and clarification of the scope of investments in health care, justice and transport.
Other changes concern planned education reforms, but these aren't meant to affect the expected positive impact of these reforms.
With two smaller investments from the original plan removed and almost 70 measures modified, the changes are designed to ensure effective implementation in a changed context characterised by higher-than-expected inflation and a reduction in the Recovery and Resilience Facility grants that finance part of the plan.
According to the EC, Slovakia revised the original plan because it needed to take into account the high inflation that it has faced since the adoption of the original plan in 2021, with an increase in construction costs and the disruption of supply chains following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A downward revision of the maximum amount of grants allocated under the Reconstruction and Resilience Facility from €6.3 billion to €6 billion was also taken into account. The revision reflects a relatively better economic outcome for Slovakia in 2020 and 2021 than originally foreseen.
The Commission considers it important that Slovakia has added the REPowerEU chapter to the plan, which includes six new reforms, four new investments and four extended investments from the original plan.
The revised plan puts much more focus on the green transformation and allocates 46 percent (previously 42 percent) of the available funding to measures supporting climate objectives.
The six reforms and eight investments included in the REPowerEU chapter will contribute to the green transformation - speeding up the deployment of renewable energy, streamlining the permit framework, including for geothermal and heat pumps, and simplifying the procedures for connecting renewable energy sources to the transmission grid. Meanwhile, significant investments will be made to expand the capacity of the electricity grid and to promote sustainable transport via zero-emission vehicles.
The REPowerEU chapter also includes measures to increase energy efficiency, such as investment and support for families at risk of energy poverty, as well as measures to accelerate the uptake of green skills.
The social dimension of the revised plan remains ambitious and promotes social resilience. Of particular importance are measures to improve the accessibility, inclusiveness and quality of the education system, as well as measures to improve the quality of health and long-term care provision. Key reforms and investments in the judiciary, the business environment and the fight against corruption are included in the new plan as well.
The Council of the EU now has four weeks to approve the EC's assessment of Slovakia's plan.
Source: TASR
