Greece's national recovery programme, known as "Greece 2.0" and financed by the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility, is in its final stretch, the Ministry of National Economy and Finance said. The ministry described it as the largest investment and reform programme in the country in recent decades.
Minister of State Akis Skertsos and Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance Nikos Papathanasis, who oversees the Recovery and Resilience Facility, presented the programme's progress to the Cabinet. They said total disbursements from the European Union have reached 24.6 billion euros so far, with 253 milestones and targets fulfilled, including a revised eighth grant request and a seventh loan payment request. Payments under the Public Investment Programme combined with disbursed loan funds total 28.4 billion euros.
All remaining investment and reform milestones are expected to be completed and submitted by the end of this week, with the government aiming to absorb the full 36 billion euro national allocation by the end of the year.
Roots in the Pissarides report
According to the ministry, the plan's design was built around a report by a committee led by Nobel-winning economist Christopher Pissarides, commissioned by the government in 2020 to study long-term sustainable growth, rising incomes and the transformation of the Greek state.
Unlike earlier such reports, the ministry said, the Pissarides committee's proposals were not left as diagnosis alone but were built into Greece 2.0 as specific policies, reforms, investments, timelines and measurable milestones. A December 2025 study by the Center for Liberal Studies found that of the 525 recommendations in the Pissarides report, spanning 23 areas of public policy, 432, or 83%, have either been implemented or are in the process of being implemented through the national recovery plan.
Tax compliance and jobs
The ministry pointed to convergence with European Union averages on indicators tied to the fund's original goals of green and energy transition and digitisation of the state and economy. It cited 489,370 cash registers and POS terminals now connected to the AADE tax authority. VAT revenue rose 13.1%, or 1.69 billion euros, in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period of 2025, while the VAT gap, the share of VAT revenue lost to non-payment, has converged toward the European average of 9%, down from 25% in 2019.
In the labour market, the ministry said active employment policies have added more than 500,000 jobs to the Greek economy, while overall unemployment and unemployment among young people and women have each fallen by 50%. The Digital Work Card recorded 4.5 million overtime hours in the first half of 2026 and more than 7 million in 2025, compared with just 1.7 million declared overtime hours in 2021.
Digital services, energy and justice
Greece has moved from 26th among the 27 EU member states in 2019 to above the European average on digitisation, 5G network and digital health indicators, the ministry said. The 20 most-used services on the gov.gr digital portal are estimated to have saved citizens about 312.2 million euros, 62.5 million sheets of paper and 19.1 million trips.
Investment in renewable energy, interconnections and grids has pushed Greece's wholesale and retail electricity prices below the European average, the ministry said, and the country became a net exporter of electricity by 2024, having previously been a net importer, a shift it said has improved the trade balance and energy security.
In the justice system, the new Judicial Map, changes to civil and criminal procedure, out-of-court dispute resolution and digitisation measures have cut ruling times by 50% at first-instance courts in Athens and Thessaloniki, with a case clearance rate above 100%. Greece has reduced the number of European Commission rule-of-law recommendations it faces from seven to four and is among the member states that made progress on all recommendations this year.
Land registry, health and education
Land registration coverage has risen from 39% in 2019 to 98.83%, with 99% of the country now assigned a property identification number, as the transition to a unified digital land registry continues, the ministry said.
The "PROLAMVANO" preventive health programme has carried out 6.86 million screenings and produced 274,410 early findings, more than half of Greeks have registered with a personal doctor, and the backlog of pending surgeries has largely been cleared, with no waits longer than four months. A digital patient file is now operating, and more than 230 renovations of health facilities, hospitals and health centres have been completed nationwide.
More than 39,000 interactive whiteboards have been installed in schools from the fifth grade of primary school through the final year of secondary school, and 410,000 users have signed up for the free Digital Tutoring service. A pilot personal assistant scheme for people with disabilities has become permanent state policy, alongside a digital disability card and a programme to upgrade housing for people with disabilities.
Mobilising private investment
The fund has also supported entrepreneurship and private investment, the ministry said. Through low-interest business loans, InvestEU guarantees, venture capital funds and housing programmes, the Recovery and Resilience Facility is expected to mobilise a total of 46.6 billion euros in investment and financing.
Ministers hail national achievement
Skertsos said completing the Recovery and Resilience Facility was an important national success, not only because Greece made use of an unprecedented European funding resource but because it managed to complete on time a demanding, performance-based national plan with specific milestones, strict timelines and continuous European Commission oversight. He said the programme's most important legacy was reforms that change how the state, economy and society function, in fields that have already converged with European norms.
He listed digitisation, simplification, tax compliance, faster justice, a modern land registry, energy transition, health prevention, new skills and improved infrastructure among the programme's achievements, and said completing such a complex European programme on time shows the Greek state can set ambitious goals, turn them into action and deliver measurable results. He said the challenge now was ensuring the reforms endure and keep producing results long after the fund's completion, since modernisation "does not have an expiration date."
Papathanasis said Greece 2.0 is the largest development intervention carried out in the country in recent decades, with results already visible in health, education, digital transformation, the green transition, infrastructure, agricultural production and social policy. He said the fund's success should be measured not only by the resources absorbed or projects delivered but by the lasting development and reform footprint it leaves behind, calling it a foundation for converting economic growth into a lasting social dividend.
Evi Dramalioti, Secretary General of Coordination responsible for the programme's reform component, said the reform strand of the plan would be fully completed within days, expanded beyond its original design, with lasting institutional and structural changes including completion of the land registry, the new Judicial Map, the nationwide expansion of the Personal Assistant programme for people with disabilities, and special spatial planning frameworks for tourism, renewable energy and industry. She said managing such a complex programme has given Greek public administration valuable know-how in designing and delivering demanding reforms with strict timelines and measurable results.
Orestis Kavalakis, governor of the Special Recovery Fund Service, said Greece 2.0 is an unprecedented exercise in designing and delivering public policy, combining investment, reform and strict timelines, and that progress so far reflects cooperation between ministries, implementing bodies and the private sector, which acted both as contractor on thousands of projects and as investor through the fund's loan and other financial instruments. He said the fund is now in its final stretch and that all bodies involved are working to submit final payment requests to the European Commission on time, with the goal of fully utilising every available European resource to maximise the fund's development impact across the country.
