Commission endorses preliminary assessment of Czechia's third payment request under the Recovery and
Commission assessment of Czechia's payment request
Today, the Commission has endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of 63 out of the 65 milestones and targets linked to Czechia's third payment request for €1.9 billion (net of pre-financing) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.
This payment request covers important steps in the delivery of 17 reforms and 28 investments that will drive positive change for citizens and businesses in Czechia in the areas of construction permitting, energy, and rail infrastructure.
Flagship measures in this payment request include:
- Acceleration of renewable energy deployment: Czechia amended the Energy Act to incentivise electricity sharing and the development of energy communities. This enables, for example, people to produce electricity from solar panels and share it with their neighbours. The reform also simplified the permitting process for renewable energy by eliminating the requirement for permits for small-scale installations and streamlining permits for large ones. This reform also supports the introduction of a Single Environmental Opinion, which replaces the up to 26 previously required environmental approvals.
- Improvement of the rail infrastructure: Czechia invested in the electrification of 40 km of rail lines to reduce emissions, the reconstruction of three existing rail lines totalling 26 km, the renovation of eight station buildings to improve their quality of service and energy efficiency performance, and the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System across the country to increase safety. Investments also cover the modernisation of a bridge on the rail line Plzeň-atec, as well as the construction of over 36 kilometres of cycle paths across Czechia.
The Commission found that two milestones have not been entirely fulfilled at this stage. They relate to a reform of long-term care (C3.3.R3/M193, ‘Entry into force of the law on long-term care') and a reform improving the electricity grid connection process (C7.1.R3/M304, ‘Entry into force of legislative and procedural changes').
The Commission therefore proposes to suspend part of the payment as foreseen by Article 24(6) of the RRF Regulation. This procedure gives Member States additional time to fulfil outstanding milestones or targets, while receiving a partial payment linked to the ones that have been satisfactorily fulfilled.
Next steps
The Commission has now sent its positive preliminary assessment of the milestones and targets that it considers satisfactorily fulfilled to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion.
In parallel, the Commission has communicated to Czechia the reasons why it considers the two milestones on long-term care and on the electricity grid connection process as not satisfactorily fulfilled. Czechia now has one month to submit its observations to the Commission.
Following the EFC's opinion on the positive preliminary assessment and after assessing the observations submitted by Czechia, the Commission will adopt a payment decision, after which the payment to Czechia can take place.
Should the Commission, following Czechia's observations, confirm its assessment that the milestones in question have not been satisfactorily fulfilled, it will suspend part of the payment. The suspended amount is determined by applying the Commission's methodology for payment suspensions (outlined in Annex II of the Communication published on 21 February 2023), which applies to all Member States.
From that moment, Czechia will have a period of six months to fulfil the outstanding milestones. At the end of this period, the Commission will assess whether these milestones have been satisfactorily fulfilled. If so, it will lift the suspension and proceed with the payment of the suspended amount.
Background
Czechia' recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures. The plan will be financed by €9.2 billion, of which €8.4 billion in grants and €818 million in loans.
You can find more information on Czechia's Recovery and Resilience plan on this page, which features an interactive map of projects financed by the RRF, as well as on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard. More information on the process of payment requests under the RRF can be found in this document of questions and answers.
For more information
Commission's preliminary assessment of Czechia's second payment request
Commission's preliminary assessment
Czechia's Recovery and Resilience plan
Plan overview, full plan and all other related documents
Recovery and Resilience Facility
Recovery and Resilience Facility
Recovery and Resilience Facility project map
Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard
