ATHENS — Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the approval of Greece's national recovery plan "Greece 2.0" by an ECOFIN meeting held in Brussels, in a post on social media on Tuesday.

On Twitter, the Greek premier wrote: "Historic moment for Greece, as our National Recovery and Resilience Plan is approved. Now the hard work begins as we accelerate our plans creating jobs and growth in the sustainable, digital and infrastructure space, leading to a brighter future for all our citizens."

Historic moment for Greece, as our National Recovery and Resilience Plan is approved. Now the hard work begins as we accelerate our plans creating jobs and growth in the sustainable, digital and infrastructure space, leading to a brighter future for all our citizens.

— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) July 13, 2021

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also welcomed the approval of Greece's national recovery plan.

Commenting on Twitter in Greek, Leyen exclaimed "Good news for Greece!" and continued to say that approval means funding to Greece can begin.

With 30.5 billion euros, the NextGenerationEU recovery plan can help Greece become greener, more digital and better prepared for the future, she noted.

Dombrovskis: First disbursements of recovery funds to begin near end of July

Disbursement of EU Recovery Funds will begin around the end of July, European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Tuesday.

In statements following the ECOFIN meeting, he said that the Commission will sign a credit agreement with each country whose plan is approved in order to move immediately to the first disbursement, corresponding to 13% of the total of funds to be disbursed.

Besides Greece, the first batch of plans approved were submitted by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain.