She announced the disbursement of the first payment of €700 million in grants (net of pre-financing) to Croatia under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU. This payment to Croatia brings the total amount of funds disbursed under the RRF since its entry into force in February 2021 to over €100 billion, both in grants and loans. On 15 March 2022, Croatia submitted to the Commission the first request for payment of €700 million under the RRF covering 33 milestones and one target. These include several reforms and investments in the areas of health, social policy, adult education, public administration, anti-corruption, fiscal, anti-money-laundering, energy, transport, water and waste management, and energy efficiency, as well as Croatia's audit and control system for the implementation of the RRF. On 10 May 2022, the Commission adopted a positive preliminary assessment of Croatia's request for payment. The favourable opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee of the Council on the payment request paved the way for the Commission to adopt a final decision on the disbursement of the funds.