EU releases first payment from COVID-19 war fund Reuters

Kate Arnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters)-The European Union issued its first cash from its huge COVID-19 recovery fund in the form of a grant on Monday to create jobs and support businesses in an economy ravaged by the pandemic.

The 27 EU countries are all prepared to receive funds from a grant and loan fund worth 800 billion euros (954.32 billion U.S. dollars), which is funded by debts raised by the European Commission on behalf of member states.

The European Commission said on Monday that it had paid the first cash out of the fund-providing 800 million euros in grants to 16 EU countries, including France, Germany, Denmark, Estonia and the Czech Republic.

EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a statement: “I am very pleased that we have successfully launched the NextGenerationEU release as planned.”

The COVID-19 recovery fund is called NextGenerationEU.

The funds will fund 41 national and regional programs aimed at bridging the gap between emergency response measures and long-term investment through measures to strengthen the healthcare system, create jobs, or provide investment support for enterprises.

It will support projects that help reduce differences in economic strength in different regions-called “cohesion funds” in EU terminology. Countries can also use it to repay projects that date back to February 2020.

In order to qualify for EU recovery funds, each government must stipulate how to use its share, but it should be noted that at least 37% of the funds must be used to combat climate change, and at least 20% of the funds must be used to adapt the economy to the digital age .

(1 USD = 0.8383 Euro)