The European Commission has granted EUR 140.1 million to Hungary as part of the pre-financing for the EU’s REPowerEU energy security funds under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the Brussels-based body announced on Monday. It is the last installment of the REPowerEU pre-financing.
This is the second and final tranche of the REPowerEU pre-financing, following the first pre-financing of EUR 779.5 million for the EU’s REPowerEU program for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy, which was disbursed to Hungary on December 28.
In a communication, the EU Commission stressed that the advances will help kick-start the implementation of key investment and reform measures outlined in the different chapters of the REPowerEU EU program. It will help accelerate the achievement of energy saving, clean energy and energy diversification targets to help Europe become independent from Russian fossil fuels, they said.
Good news from Brussels, due to our efforts with the @EU_Commission, more funds are coming to Hungary.
The European Commission has disbursed €140.1 million (about 53.2 billion forints) to Hungary as part of the pre-financing for the EU’s REPowerEU energy security funds… pic.twitter.com/Bl0JbQWFhu
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) January 15, 2024
Monday’s allocation of the pre-financing was made possible by the approval by the Council of the European Union of Hungary’s revised plan, including the REPowerEU chapter of the recovery fund, and the signing of the financial agreement, they said. The pre-financing payments represent up to 20 percent of the resources requested to finance the REPowerEU chapter of each member state.
Fact
The European Commission has proposed the RePowerEU program in response to the international energy crisis caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine. Member states are to supplement their recovery and resilience plans with new or expanded measures and investments, mainly to achieve energy savings, diversify energy supply, and boost the penetration of renewables.
Hungary’s revised recovery plan, including a EUR 4.6 billion REPowerEU chapter for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy, was approved by the European Commission in November. The plan is now worth EUR 10.4 billion, of which EUR 6.5 billion is in the form of grants and EUR 3.9 billion in the form of loans. This amount covers 67 reforms and 47 investments.
Via MTI, Featured image: Pixabay
