On Tuesday, October the 4th, within the framework of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council’s (ECOFIN) meeting an agreement of the Council on the REPowerEU financing instrument was reached, as well as the amount of financing to European Union (EU) Member States was established. During the negotiations, the Ministry of Finance managed to ensure that the amount of the financing initially granted to Latvia was increased from EUR 109 million to EUR 123,98 million, or by 14%. Also, improvement in the use of the source of financing of the instrument was achieved. By this agreement of the Council, the Czech Presidency is mandated to launch negotiations with the European Parliament to reach a final agreement between the institutions on approval of the REPowerEU financing instrument.
In order to use the REPowerEU financing, EU Member States will have to make amendments to their Recovery Fund plans. It is expected that draft amendments to the Latvian Recovery Fund will be prepared and submitted for review by the Cabinet of Ministers by the end of this year.
“Considering the geopolitical situation since the Russian-initiated war against Ukraine, as well as the most recent attacks on the energy infrastructure in Europe, gaining independence from Russian fossil fuels is the current issue of relevance for the entire Europe. Therefore, the REPowerEU Plan and financial support are of utmost importance. We have ensured that Latvia will receive more than EUR 123 million to invest in transition to a new energy infrastructure and system by diversifying energy sources and switching to clean energy. This is important not only at the level of Latvia and the Baltics, but also at pan-European level,” says the Minister for Finance Jānis Reirs.
In March this year, in response to the current hardships and global energy market disruptions caused by Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission presented the REPowerEU Plan. The EC-developed REPowerEU Plan, which supplements the Recovery Fund Plan, envisages to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels, starting with gas, already long before 2030. The Plan outlines a range of measures aimed at rapidly reducing the dependence from Russian fossil fuels and accelerating the green transition while strengthening the resilience of the European Union-wide energy system.