- The European Commission has confirmed that Spain has successfully met the 29 milestones and objectives linked to the third disbursement
- After the positive evaluation by the Commission, the Council of the European Union must ratify this compliance, which is expected to occur in the following weeks
- This will mean the disbursement of 6 billion euros, which is in addition to the 31,036 million euros already received. In total, Spain will have received 53% of what corresponds to it in non-refundable transfers, having fulfilled almost 30% of the milestones and total objectives of the Plan
- Spain remains the most advanced country in the EU in the implementation of the Recovery Plan, which demonstrates the great effort and rigor of the Government and Public Administrations in the management of the Plan
February 17, 2023.- The European Commission has positively assessed the fulfilment of 29 milestones and objectives (23 milestones and 6 objectives) linked to the third disbursement of the Recovery Plan for a total of 6 billion euros. The Government of Spain formally requested the disbursement on November 11, having fulfilled the milestones and objectives throughout the first half of 2022.
The Commission should now present its positive assessment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which should deliver an opinion within four weeks. To this end, the CEF will have the opinion of the Economic Policy Committee (EPC), which will be held next week. Once the opinion of the CEF has been issued, the Commission will include it in the corresponding payment decision. In total, the transfer of funds to Spain is estimated to take place in about six weeks.
Some of the most outstanding milestones and goals
The Commission welcomed the Government's reform drive and the continuation of the intensive reform process already under way. It is worth mentioning the entry into force of the reform of the Insolvency Law, the Law on the Comprehensive System of Vocational Training, the reform of the system of social security contributions for self-employed workers or the Law on Measures to Prevent and Combat Fiscal Fraud.
In terms of investments, progress is made in R+D+I projects in the automotive sector, projects are funded to promote the sustainability and competitiveness of agriculture, livestock and fisheries, and also in the field of culture, with support for the digitization of cultural services.
It highlights the special mention made by the Commission in its report of the effort made by the Spanish authorities to ensure the proper functioning of the integrated information system of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. Specifically, Order of the Ministry of Finance and Public Function 55/2023, of January 24, regarding the systematic analysis of the risk of conflict of interest in the procedures that execute the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, establishes the procedure for collecting data of real holders of foreign companies that do not have registered powers in Spain and that benefit from the Recovery Plan.
It also regulates the systematic and automated analysis of the risk of conflict of interest through a computer tool of data analysis and risk scoring (MINERVA) developed by the Tax Agency.
EU leaders: nearly 30% of milestones and total goals met
With the 29 milestones and objectives that make up the third disbursement, Spain has already met 121 milestones and objectives out of a total of 416, which is equivalent to almost 30% of the total milestones and objectives.
The satisfactory evaluation of the fulfilment of this package of milestones and objectives will involve the disbursement of EUR 6 billion, which would add to the EUR 31,036 million already received, of which EUR 9,036 million were received as pre-financing and EUR 22 billion corresponding to the first and second disbursements. Once the disbursement has been made, Spain will have received 53% of what corresponds to it in non-reimbursable transfers.
Spain remains the most advanced EU country in the implementation of the Plan. No Member State, so far, has obtained the positive assessment of the third disbursement or complied with a similar percentage of commitments.
Funds execution accelerates
The III Implementation Report of the Recovery Plan published this week reflects that Spain accelerated in 2022 the execution of the European funds NextGenerationEU, with more than 23,300 million euros in calls for grants and tenders resolved at the end of 2022 that are already financing more than 190,000 projects of companies, research centers, citizens and administrations in all territories.
Thanks to European funds, the General State Budgets for 2021, 2022 and 2023 have been able to include an average of 25 billion euros per year of productive investment, avoiding the fall of previous crises. The implementation report shows the cruising speed of Spain in the budgetary execution of the disbursements received so far. The year 2022 was closed with 25,143 million authorised European funds, 13.6% more than at the end of 2021. In the month of January 2023 alone, funds of 9,188 million euros have already been authorized, 32% of everything budgeted for this year.
As a result of the intense process of co-governance, at the end of 2022 calls for grants and tenders have been resolved for 23,300 million euros, of which 82% correspond to the General Administration of the State.
In addition, 20,628 million euros have been allocated to the Autonomous Communities through the 139 sectoral conferences held for their direct management in their areas of competence, such as education, housing, health and social policies, and through different subsidies and agreements. Their weight in the distribution of funds makes them play a key role in the arrival of funds to the productive fabric during 2023. In 2022, nearly 20% of the contests resolved corresponded to the autonomous governments.