Ministers agree on the distribution of EUR 20 billion from the RePowerEU package, the Czech Republic will get about CZK 16.7 billion
Today in Luxembourg, at a meeting of the ECOFIN Council chaired by President Zbyněk Stanjura, finance ministers reached an agreement on the RePowerEU proposal, including the allocation of EUR 20 billion among EU Member States. The Council agreement will allow the Czech Presidency to commence negotiations with the European Parliament.
The Czech Republic should receive a 3.4% share of the instrument, i.e. EUR 681.6 million (roughly CZK 16.7 billion). The European Commission's package proposes the creation of a new chapter under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to finance investments in the diversification of the energy mix of EU Member States. The aim of RePowerEU is to free the European Union from dependence on unstable supplies of Russian fossil fuels following the aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
"We took a breakthrough step today at the Ecofin Council towards freeing Europe from its dependence on Russian fossil fuels. The Council's agreement to adopt the RePowerEU investment package worth almost half a trillion crowns is a clear success of the Czech Presidency, for which this financial reinforcement of national recovery plans with a new chapter is a key priority, especially in view of our 97% dependence on Russian gas at the beginning of this year. Currently, the Czech Republic is actively working on diversifying our energy sources and we will cover about one third of our annual gas consumption in the coming years with liquefied gas supplies from the Netherlands. In this effort to get rid of our energy dependence on Putin's Russia as soon as possible, we will be greatly helped by the roughly CZK 16.7 billion of European money from the RePowerEU package, which we will soon be able to draw on thanks to today's compromise agreement of the finance ministers," commented Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura on the outcome of the meeting.
The Council agreement will allow the Czech Presidency to commence negotiations with the European Parliament. The aim of the Czech Presidency remains to reach an agreement by the end of the year so that implementation of the programme in the Member States can start as soon as possible. As regards the sources of funding for the €20 billion RePowerEU package, the EU Council decided on a combination of two sources. 75% of the resources originally earmarked for the so-called Innovation Fund will be used. The remaining 25% should cover the frontloading of the auctioning of a part of the emission allowances under the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The key for the distribution of the relevant funds takes into account the economic maturity of EU Member States as measured by GDP per capita, their energy dependence on fossil fuels and the extent to which investment in a given country becomes more expensive due to inflation. Member States will be able to apply for the approved RePowerEU funds until 31 August 2023.