"Growth in Greece has been and will be further supported by exceptional levels of technical and financial help. Since our Plan for Growth and Jobs for Greece launched nearly 2 years ago, Greece has received almost EUR 11 billion from a large pool of EU funds. And Greece is among the top performers in terms of the use of EU funds," Dombrovskis said as quoted by the Commission's press service in a read-out of the college meeting.
Under the Jobs and Growth Plan for Greece launched in 2015, the European Commission is working with the Greek authorities to mobilize up to 35 billion euros to help fund investment and economic activity, which is crucial in allowing Greece to return to economic growth.
Greece is burdened with outstanding debt and has been attempting to manage the crisis through austerity measures and loans since 2010.
In 2015, Greece's international creditors signed an agreement with Athens approving a third bailout package worth over $92 billion in exchange for austerity reforms which include pension cuts and tax hikes. However, the reform program faces difficulties, as its second review has long been pending. The latest bailout installments of $1.2 billion and $3 billion were unlocked in October 2016.
The Greek government now needs $8 billion to meet a debt repayment deadline in July.
