Last out of all EU countries – now Sweden gets corona money

Brussels – It took some time – but now Sweden is also receiving its first part of the EU’s large support after the coronavirus pandemic.

The EU Commission has given the green light for a first payment of 1.6 billion euros to Sweden, as explained in a press release on Tuesday.

The payment has been significantly delayed, partly due to the change of government in Sweden in the autumn of 2022 and altered Swedish plans. The support funds are now going to finance, for example, the climate boost and further expanded broadband.

The giant fund RRF – formally the Recovery and Resilience Facility – was created during the coronavirus pandemic to help EU countries get their economies back on track. A total of 312.5 billion euros in grants and 360 billion in loans were offered to the countries, jointly borrowed by the EU.

Sweden is the last of all EU countries to receive money from the fund. Like many others, Sweden has chosen to only apply for grant money – a total of 3.5 billion euros for Sweden.

So far, most RRF money has been given to Italy: 75.7 billion euros in loans and 46.5 billion in grants.

(June 3)