Commissioner Ferreira: A new Marshall Plan
The European Commission will do its best to accelerate the review of operational plans Greece submits for the new funding period 2021-27, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
In comments on the sidelines of events for the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels, Ferreira explained the process as follows: “After the approval of the overall plan there are in principle three months for the country to propose the operational plans and five months for the Commission to analyze them. The more robust the plans are, the shorter the time for the Commission also to analyze them.”
In the process, she stressed, “the problem is not funds – the problem is the quality of the programs” that are being submitted. She asserted however that “there is no rush.”
Greece was the frontrunner in the preparation of the overall plan and the Commission will do its best, she said, “to speed it up. In particular those programs that are really more needed in Greece and that the country is more interested in finishing.”
Drawing a parallel, Ferreira said the new Recovery and PA/NSRF funding in Europe after the pandemic recalled the Marshall Plan after World War II.
As she explained, “We had this deep crisis but, in this case, we have a Marshall Plan – we have a plan but in fact it’s historic, robust, strong, so let’s do the best of it.”
