The European Commission will suspend transfers to Lithuania from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) if the government’s proposed tax reform stalls, Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė warned on Wednesday.
“If we do nothing, the amount we would not receive from the European Commission under the New Generation Lithuania plan would be much higher. The Commission could say how much, but certainly not 26 million euros,” she said.
The Commission has temporarily withheld 26 million euros in support funds, with “the freeze period” set for six months starting April 28, Skaistė said, adding that Lithuania must adopt some tax amendments during this time.
The parliament has recently adopted a “green” fuel excise duty package and has yet to pass real estate tax amendments. If Lithuania meets these commitments, the government will receive the frozen 26 million euros early next year.
The EU’s executive body disbursed the first RRF tranche of 542.3 million euros to Lithuania in early May, with another 260 million euros expected to be paid out by the end of the year.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
