Odor: Slovakia Files Third Application for €815 mn Payment from RRF

Bratislava, September 25 (TASR) - Slovakia is filing its third application for a payment from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRF), this time amounting to €815 million, caretaker Premier Ludovit Odor announced at a press conference on Monday.
       "The recovery plan shows that Slovakia can be a European leader in some areas. Naturally, it will be important to continue at this pace," stated Odor.
       According to Vice-premier Livia Vasakova, Slovakia submitted the recovery plan on time, the fifth EU country to do so. "Slovakia will receive €2 billion, which is one third of the total allocation from the recovery plan," she said.
       Within the third payment application, 27 milestones and targets have been met in the areas of a green economy, education, science, research, innovation, effective public administration and digitisation. "Reforms were approved that we could only wish for a few years ago. This applies to the university reform, a new court map, the research and innovation reform and environmental protection," said Vasakova.
       The digital transformation of Slovakia for 2023-2026 and the reform of the National Strategy for Digital Skills were also completed. The third milestone was the reform of the investment plan for 17 priority everyday-life situations. Its goal is to offer state services in the simplest possible electronic form, thereby cutting bureaucracy for the public.        
       Once it is filed, the application will be evaluated by the European Commission (EC) and the Economic Policy Committee (EPC). If its positive evaluation is okayed by the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), Slovakia will receive €709 million, the sum after pre-financing is deducted.
       A total of 85 calls worth €2.37 billion from the recovery plan has been announced to date. Forty-seven calls amounting to €1.25 billion have been concluded.