After the Recovery Fund (NextGenerationEU) which expires in 2026, the EU needs a new financial instrument of joint borrowing that will respond to the new common European objectives, such as defence, cutting-edge technologies and clean technology, EU Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) and three other EU media in Brussels.

A few days before the European Commission presented its interim report on the implementation of the member states’ recovery and resilience plans, Gentiloni noted: “We are halfway there.”

He pointed out that the majority of the investments come in the last three years and expressed his satisfaction that the recovery plans have already managed to reduce the growth gap between member states. Regarding the new fiscal rules, the Italian Commissioner underlined that if they are approved, their implementation will start in 2025, which means that in the autumn the member-states will have to submit their multiannual adjustment plans.

Asked what the new challenge for Greece is, he replied:

“Greece is one of the countries with high growth rates, which is not a coincidence, if one considers its course and the difficult situation 10 years ago. After the pandemic there came a fairly strong growth that continues until the limit of our economic forecasts, in 2025.

“Now Greece, like all member-states, has to implement the difficult, second half of the recovery and resilience plan, during which most of the investments are made. The level of implementation of the Greek recovery and resilience plan, so far, is good. The third payment was disbursed at the end of December. Also, last year, especially after the fires, the Commission worked hard to redirect part of the funds to deal with the climate crisis. After this reorientation of funds, a quick and smooth development in the implementation of the Greek recovery plan is expected.”