Commission endorses positive preliminary assessment of Slovakia’s fourth payment request for €799 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Today, the Commission has endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Slovakia’s fourth payment request for €799 million (net of pre-financing) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.

Following its assessment of the payment request, submitted by Slovakia on 15 December 2023, the Commission has preliminarily concluded that Slovakia has satisfactorily completed the 15 milestones set out in the Council Implementing Decision for the fourth instalment.

The payment request covers important steps in the delivery of 15 reforms that will drive positive change for citizens and businesses in Slovakia in the areas of sustainable transport, inclusive and modern education, healthcare, and the pension system.

Flagship measures in this payment request include:

Education curriculum: Slovakia adopted a State primary education programme that paves the way for the introduction of a new curriculum for primary and lower-secondary education. The new curriculum includes modernised and higher standards in the basic learning objectives.
Healthcare: Slovakia has improved the efficiency and availability of its emergency care network, with emergency services now expected to be available for 90% of the population within 15 minutes.

Next steps

The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of Slovakia’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Slovakia can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission.