EU gives final go-ahead to plans for Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Cyprus

The ministers of economy and finance of the European Union (EU) approved the recovery plans of Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Cyprus on Monday, making sixteen Member States that have received the final approval of the EU-27 and can begin to receive European funds.

The go-ahead was given during a videoconference held on Monday by the economic heads of the EU-27.

Following the green light from the ministers, the Council, which brings together the Member States, will approve the plans of Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Cyprus by written procedure, a purely formal procedure following the endorsement of the EU-27 economic and finance ministers.

Once the plans have been approved, the countries will have to sign financing agreements with the Commission and will then be able to receive an advance of money from the recovery fund.

The ministers of the EU-27 already approved the recovery plans of Spain, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain on 13 July.

Therefore, after the four more approved this day, sixteen reform and investment plans have received the EU's final approval.

Prior to approval by the member states, the European Commission (EC) had already given its approval to the plans.

In addition to endorsing the documents of these sixteen countries, the EC has also given its approval to the plans of Ireland and the Czech Republic, which will be given the go-ahead by the countries at a later date. 

Among the plans that the EC has yet to approve are those of Hungary and Poland, while Bulgaria and the Netherlands are the only two EU partners that have not yet submitted their plans to the EU executive, which has in principle two months to assess them before approving them and recommending that the countries do the same.