European Commission disburses €289 million in pre-financing to Lithuania

The European Commission has today disbursed €289 million to Lithuania in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's financial allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The pre-financing payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Lithuania's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission will authorise further disbursements based on the implementation of the investments and reforms outlined in Lithuania's recovery and resilience plan. The country is set to receive €2.22 billion in total, fully consisting of grants, over the lifetime of its plan.

Today's disbursement follows the recent successful implementation of the first borrowing operations under NextGenerationEU. By the end of the year, the Commission intends to raise up to a total of €80 billion in long-term funding, to be complemented by short-term EU-Bills, to fund the first planned disbursements to Member States under NextGenerationEU.

Part of NextGenerationEU, the RRF will provide €723.8 billion (in current prices) to support investments and reforms across Member States. The Lithuanian plan is part of the unprecedented EU response to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis, fostering the green and digital transitions and strengthening resilience and cohesion in our societies.

Supporting transformative investments and reform projects

The RRF in Lithuania finances investments and reforms that are expected to have a deeply transformative effect on Lithuania's economy and society. Here are some of these projects:

• Securing the green transition: €242 million will be allocated to develop offshore and onshore wind and solar power, as well as to create public and private energy storage facilities. €341 million will be invested to phase out the most polluting road transport vehicles and increase the share of renewable energy sources in the transport sector.
• Supporting the digital transition: €73 million will be allocated to develop the rollout of very high capacity networks, including by facilitating the 5G rollout, connecting digitally intensive enterprises and institutions.
• Reinforcing economic and social resilience: €312 million will be invested to consolidate teaching and learning resources, improve preschool, primary and secondary education, vocational education and training, as well as adult learning. /BGNES