Since the approval of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan in July 2021 and until April 6, the State has resolved a total of 520 calls of aid charged to European funds ‘Next Generation EU’, for a total of €8.5 billion which, according to government data, have already reached families, companies and institutions. In addition, the State has transferred 13,300 million to the autonomous communities for the implementation of the Plan’s programs that fall within the scope of its powers, in areas such as education and vocational training, health, environment, living place and rehabilitation of buildings, care economy and social policies. However, there are no complete data on what part of those 13,300 million transferred to the autonomies is already in the hands of their final recipients.
Execution report
These are some of the main figures that the First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Nadia Calvinohas presented this Thursday in the Senate, in the General Commission of the Autonomous Communities, where he has appeared to explain the progress related to the Recovery Plan that should serve to apply the 140,000 million euros of European funds allocated to Spain for the period from 2021 to 2026. Half of these 140,000 million are non-refundable transfers from the European Union and the other half correspond to loans, and all this money began to arrive in Spain from August 2021, by tranches conditional on compliance of the calendar of reforms and investments that the government has agreed with Brussels.
So far, Spain has received an advance of 9,000 million and a first tranche of 10,000 million. The Government will shortly request the second tranche, of 12,000 million, charged to the objectives met until December 31, and in the second semester the third payment (6,000 million) will be requested, within the eight programmed until 2026.
The 2021 State Budgets allocated investments of 27,000 million linked to the Recovery Plan. In the 2022 Budgets this item is 24,000 million. On this total, of 51,000 million euros, the State has already resolved calls and has sent funds to families, companies and institutions for 8,500 million and has transferred 13,300 million to the autonomies so that they do the same. In total, both amounts add up to 43% of what was budgeted for this biennium.
The state
Among the 520 State aid calls already resolved, transfers to research centers or the ‘digital kit’ program for SMEs are included. Some of the calls for aid linked to the nine ‘PERTES’ (Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation) already approved by the Government in areas such as electric carstate-of-the-art health, green hydrogen or the food chain, among others. In addition, the main railway works have been tendered for the closure of the strategic projects of the mediterranean corridor and central or the connection of the north-south high-speed networks.
According to Government data, the 520 calls for aid already resolved by the State, for an amount of 8,500 million, have allowed the launch of more than 11,500 projects, of which more than 6,000 are being carried out in Business of all the autonomous communities; more than 1,000, in local entities and more than 1,400, in universities and technology centerss of the entire national territory.
Lack of data in the autonomies
The autonomous communities, for their part, are publishing calls for aid linked to the green transition such as the MOVES programs or the renewal of transport fleets, as well as in terms of employment and social protection. However the II Recovery Plan Status Report presented by Calviño in the Senate does not allow knowing what part of those 13,300 million transferred to the autonomies is already in the hands of their final recipients.
In the Recovery Plan website opened on the page of La Moncloa shows that, up to now, a total of 1,724 calls grants and investment tenders (here the 520 corresponding to the State are included), out of a total of 2,364 released so far. There is no aggregate data on the total amount of calls launched and those resolved, so it is difficult to know what rate of effective execution exists in the autonomous communities.
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In fact, one of the main criticisms of the opposition and business organizations lies in the delay in the execution of European funds, with the consequent delay in boosting the economy.
Lacking regional data, the aforementioned report does not allow this suspicion to be refuted. However, the document maintains that the management of the funds deployed to date “has already made it possible to achieve concrete results on the ground, in terms of 120,000 new vocational training places and for schooling for 0-3 years, increased investment in R&D, ongoing business projects and improved stability and quality of employment”.