The European Commission has transferred 140.1 million euros to Hungary in REPowerEU pre-financing grants under the post-pandemic Resilience and Recovery Facility (RRF). The EC noted that this was the last installment of the payment after the pre-financing of 779.5 million euros on December 28.

The amount of the 784 million euros of newly arrived EU funds will go towards upgrading and expanding the capacity of the electricity network, and to improve its operational reliability. The funds would kick-start the implementation of key investments and reforms outlined in each chapter of the REPowerEU scheme, including energy conservation, production and diversification goals with a view to weaning Europe off Russian fossil fuels.

The EC said pre-financing payments to member states amounted to 20 percent of the additional funds requested to finance the country’s REPowerEU chapter. It added that Monday’s transfer of the pre-financing grants had followed the European Council’s approval of Hungary’s revised RRF plan containing a REPowerEU chapter and a signed financial agreement.

The EC approved Hungary’s 4.6 billion euro REPowerEU chapter of its modified RRF plan in November. The modified RRF plan is worth a total of 10.4 billion euros, including 6.5 billion euros of grants and 3.9 billion euros of RRF loans.