The First Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Nadia Calviño, appeared today, at her request, in the Joint Congressional-Senate Commission for the European Union to inform the parliamentary groups of the progress of the Recovery Plan on the occasion of the publication of the Fourth Implementation Report, as well as its impact on the growth and transformation of the Spanish economy.

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Spain maintains the strong pace of 2 billion euros per month of Next Generation EU funding

Since the Recovery Plan was launched in 2021, the First Vice-President has appeared 10 times in the Joint Committee to report on its implementation. An appearance that comes the day after the request for the fourth disbursement of Next Generation EU funds to the European Commission, for more than 10,000 million euros based on the fulfilment of milestones and objectives, consolidating Spain among the most advanced EU countries in the deployment of European funds.

Vice-President Nadia Calviño reported that, even in a year with two electoral calls, the strong pace of calls and tenders for European funds has been maintained, consolidating an average of 2,000 million euros per month.

The public administrations as a whole have already awarded 90% of the more than 37,300 million euros received, which are reaching the economy with a positive impact by boosting productive investment, quality employment, technological modernisation and the reindustrialisation of the economy in a green and digital key.

More than 600,000 projects are being financed throughout the territory, 60% of which are driven by companies and research centres.

The Spanish Treasury has made payments of more than 37 billion, with a flow that reflects the synchronisation of EU budget revenues and payments to management bodies and beneficiaries.

Impact of European funds on the economy
As the First Vice-President and Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise pointed out, “the strength and resilience of the Spanish economy cannot be understood without the Recovery Plan”.

The Recovery Plan has produced a counter-cyclical impact, generating strong economic growth for three consecutive years: 6.4% in 2021, 5.8% in 2022 and the forecast to close 2023 with a GDP growth of 2.4%.

By 2023, the investments and reforms framed in the Recovery Plan are expected to have a positive impact of 2.5 points on the level of GDP, which amounts to more than 35 billion euros.

With the second phase of the Plan, which began with the approval of the Addendum last October, up to 93 billion euros of European funds will be mobilised between loans, additional transfers and the REPowerEU mechanism, which is estimated to produce an average annual impact of 3 points on the level of GDP.

The additional transfers will be aimed at reinforcing the 12 ongoing Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE), the strategic autonomy of Spain and the EU, with a special focus on five areas: energy, agri-food, industrial, technological and digital.

The 12 Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE), articulate efficiently and throughout the territory the projects proposed by the Autonomous Communities and Cities and the expressions of interest launched.

The PERTE have already launched calls for proposals for more than 17,000 million euros, and have increased this year their rate of resolution and awarding of works and services.

The Autonomous Communities are key to the deployment of European funds.
Since 2021, an architecture of co-governance and collaboration has been developed with the Autonomous Communities and Cities, social and economic agents and political groups to achieve effectiveness in the deployment of Next Generation EU funds.

This has already involved 161 sectoral conferences, 14 meetings of the social dialogue roundtable of the Recovery Plan, 34 expressions of interest and numerous bilateral meetings with the Autonomous Communities, in addition to written communications, appearances in the Spanish Parliament and contacts at a technical level.

The contributions and proposals received have made it possible to shape the PERTE and the second phase of the Recovery Plan, as well as to articulate the different programmes and calls for proposals to achieve broad participation and maximum impact on the ground.

26.2 billion euros have been allocated to the Autonomous Communities for direct management in their areas of competence, such as education, housing, health and social policies, and through different grants and agreements. Their weight in the distribution of funds has made them play a key role in the arrival of funds to the productive fabric during 2023.

The Autonomous Communities with the largest allocation of European funds so far are: Andalusia (4,077 million euros), Catalonia (3,963 million euros), Community of Madrid (2,875 million euros), C. Valenciana (2,471 million euros), Castile and Leon (1,621 million euros), Canary Islands (1,621 million euros) and Galicia (1,529 million euros).

Local authorities also play an essential role, having received more than 7.2 billion euros through the calls for proposals launched by the State and other management instruments. These funds are enabling them to develop projects for the refurbishment and energy efficiency of buildings, the creation of low-emission zones in urban centres, the green electrification of public transport and the digitalisation of the administration, among others.

70% of Spanish municipalities have received funds from the Recovery Plan. According to the list of the 100 largest beneficiaries of European funds sent to the European Commission, Madrid City Council is the local authority that has received the most funds, followed by the city councils of Zaragoza, Alicante, Valladolid, Murcia, Bilbao, Vigo and Malaga, together with the public transport management company in the metropolitan area of Barcelona.

Projects with results
In the area of investments, some examples of the most outstanding actions underway are those of the Plan to improve the efficiency and sustainability of irrigation systems, to which more than 1.3 billion euros have been allocated, the high-speed works to close the Mediterranean and Atlantic corridors with more than 2.9 billion euros, the investments to improve suburban services, the investments for the transformation of the entire value chain of the electric and connected vehicle in the framework of the PERTE VEC, or the energy transition projects to improve the energy transition to the electric and connected vehicle. 2.9 billion euros, investments to improve suburban services, investments to transform the entire value chain of electric and connected vehicles within the framework of the PERTE VEC, and energy transition projects, which have made Spain a benchmark in the production and use of green hydrogen, with an investment of more than 1.5 billion euros.

Also noteworthy are the actions for the modernisation of the industrial fabric and SMEs, with successful programmes such as the Digital Kit, with which more than 300,000 digitalisation vouchers have been granted and which has meant an investment of 1.5 billion euros, the deployment of rural connectivity, which has managed to bring ultra-fast broadband to 100% of the territory, and the 540 sustainable tourism plans to improve the competitiveness of traditional tourist destinations.

It is also worth highlighting the impact of the ambitious reform agenda adopted: Labour, Vocational Training, Science and the whole package to improve the business climate through the Crea y Crece, Startups and Bankruptcy laws, as well as the laws on Audiovisual Communication, Telecommunications and 5G Cybersecurity, in addition to those approved this week by the Council of Ministers, such as the reform for the modernisation and digitisation of justice and public administrations, the improvement of the support system for patronage and the reform of the unemployment benefits system.

Public information
To increase awareness of the Recovery Plan and access to European funds, the Spanish Government has made all the information available to citizens and companies on the Recovery Plan website. Specific information on calls for proposals and tenders is added to the National Grants Database, the State Contracting Platform.

Publicity and dissemination campaigns have also been carried out on social networks to increase awareness of the programmes and calls for proposals with Next Generation European funds.

The European Commission has published a website with geolocated information on a large number of projects financed with European funds and shows that Spain is the country with the largest number of them.