Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be in Prague today, July 19, to present the Commission’s assessment on the national recovery and resilience plan under NextGenerationEU.
On Monday morning, President von der Leyen will meet Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, together with Vice-President Věra Jourová.
She will also visit the Prague State Opera and the State Opera and National Museum, and discuss investments in energy efficiency.
The Czech Republic will receive CZK 180 billion from the European Union emergency fund to revive the economy after the coronavirus crisis.
The country will probably receive the first money in September after it has been approved by the finance ministers of the EU member states.
The Commission received the Czech investment strategy at the beginning of June and had two months to evaluate it. von der Leyen’s experts did not find any major mistakes in the plan that would force Brussels to exceed the deadline and demand redress, as was the case in Hungary.
The Czech Republic has met all the key criteria, according to which, for example, 37 percent of the money is to be earmarked for climate-friendly projects and 20 percent for digitization.
Von der Leyen, who has already covered more than half of the EU member states with approved plans, should discuss with the Prime Minister the details of the Czech strategy to recover the economy.
The Czech Republic could also obtain advantageous interest-bearing loans from the fund.
My #NextGenerationEU tour continues.
I look forward to being in Prague, Czechia 🇨🇿, tomorrow to see how the green, digital recovery is taking shape on the ground.#NextGenerationEU is powering this recovery across Europe! pic.twitter.com/ceRESxtraB
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 18, 2021
