Lithuania asks EC for another more than EUR 0.5b in RRF funds

VILNIUS - Lithuania has submitted to the European Commission its fourth payment request for the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), with the government asking for 515 million euros, excluding advance payment.

Lithuania expects to receive the money in December after a positive assessment from the EC, and will have received a total of 2.3 billion euros in RRF funds, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.

"We are confident that we have adequately met all the targets set out in this application for the RRF plan. The European Commission will assess this. We are confidently moving forward with the steps Lithuania needs to take, this time in the areas of the health system, the renovation of buildings, education and tax reforms, the budget system and the spending review, among others," Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius said.

The minister has recently expressed his believe that Lithuania has achieved all the indicators needed for the country to receive the frozen RRF funds.

The EC has 400 million euros in RRF funds for Lithuania frozen, and the money is now being paid out once commitments are met, pending the country's adoption of tax changes, notably the introduction of a universal property tax.

In an interview with BNS in early July, Sadzius said he expected that the tax package adopted by the Seimas should satisfy the Commission, adding that the above-mentioned amount, or at least most of it, would be paid to Lithuania.

In June, the Lithuanian parliament adopted amendments to the law on the residential income tax, corporate and real estate taxes, introduced a sugar tax and a tax on non-life insurance contracts, and adjusted some value-added tax exemptions. The changes will enter into force in January 2026.

The full 3.8 billion euro RRF plan must be implemented, accounted for and the last funds received from the EC by 2026.