The biggest Public Investment Programme since the Greek crisis erupted in 2009-2010 is about to be launched by the government. In 2026, it plans to allocate a total of 16.719 billion euros for public investment, a record amount of money flowing into the market to cover at least part of the huge investment gap that has plagued the Greek economy for decades.

This is revealed by a decision by the deputy minister of the National Economy and Finance Nikos Papathanasis, which sets the limits within which the new Public Investment Programme for 2026 will be drawn up. Compared to 2025, when 14.1 billion was initially provided but the funds were increased by 500 million euros to 14.6 billion euros, in 2026 a new jump of 14.5% in funds is foreseen, which is because the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RDF), which was created across Europe after the global recession of 2020, is “closed” due to COVID-19.

“All for all” in 2026

Based on the Papathanasis circular, a total of €16.72 billion is expected to be made available through the Public Investment Budget in 2026, as follows:

• – €7.219 billion related to projects and actions of the Recovery Fund, which constitute the country’s national contribution to complete the programmes and disburse the last instalment from the EU.
• – €6.2 billion for other projects co-financed by Greece and the EU,
• – 3.3 billion for projects to be financed exclusively from national resources.

The challenge facing the government is that next August the timeframe for the country to take advantage of the 18 billion in total that it is entitled to from the Recovery Fund expires. If the deadline passes, it loses the funds it did not use and they are returned to the EU.

Within these limits, the public sector agencies are required to do their planning to start the preparation of the Public Investment Budget 2026 and approval of the Public Investment Development Programme (PDP) 2026.

At the same time, as the 2025 Public Investment Program is coming to an end, the Ministry of National Economy calls on the entities to intensify their efforts to implement at least 95% of their Program by November 30, in order to avoid the accumulation of payments in December and possible loss of funds.

“Make the money work”

Despite the time pressure, according to Papathanasis’ decision, the goal of all such spending is to achieve the maximum possible developmental effect for the Greek economy and society.

Specifically sought:

– The rapid implementation of the projects financed by the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RDF).

– The further integration and smooth implementation of the projects funded by the co-financed part of the CDF, namely the NSRF 2021-2027, the Migration and Home Affairs Fund Programmes -IMF 2021-2027-, the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan – CAP 2023-2027- and other co-financed projects.

– The implementation of the projects financed by the national part of the NDP, namely the National Development Programme (NDP) 2021-2025 and the new NDP 2026-2030, to achieve the development objectives of the two programming periods, taking into account any synergy and complementarity with the co-financed projects.

– The completion of the projects co-financed under the NSRF 2014-2020, as well as other co-financed programmes of the previous FP (e.g., Rural Development Programme 2014-2022), to ensure the inflow of the maximum Community contribution and avoid the loss of Community funds.

“Necessary conditions for the above are proper planning, close monitoring of the progress of project implementation and focus on the achievement of objectives,” the circular said.

For this purpose, the Management Services of all the Programmes funded by the DPA should send detailed information regarding the infrastructure projects of their Programmes, and in particular, the estimated cost, the principal of the project, the source of funding, etc., as highlighted in the circular.