- This aid is part of the ERDF Fund for the period 2021-2027 and is intended for Local Authorities to promote their sustainable development from the triple environmental, economic and social perspective.
- The call has allocated the record figure of 1,774 million euros to 242 projects throughout Spain, which will mobilize 2,500 million public investment until 2029 for 971 municipalities throughout the country, most for municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants of less developed regions
- The endowment represents a 30% increase in funds and a 40% increase in the number of plans funded compared to the previous 2014-2020 period. In addition, the number of municipalities benefited from the previous call for proposals is multiplied by four.
The Ministry of Finance has published in the BOE the resolution of the Directorate General of European Funds on the call for aid of the EDIL Plan, framed in the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the period 2021-2027 and intended for Local Entities. This call has allocated the record figure of 1,774 million euros of these European funds to 242 projects, which will mobilize more than 2,500 million euros of public investment in favor of 971 municipalities throughout Spain, most of them less than 10,000 inhabitants.
These grants, which are called the EDIL Plan, have a 30% higher allocation for this call than the calls called EDUSI (Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development Strategies) corresponding to the previous programming period 2014-2020. Likewise, the number of projects selected has increased by 40%, going from the 173 plans of the previous edition to the 242 of this call.
Likewise, the number of municipalities benefited from the previous EDUSI call has been multiplied by four, going from 243 to 971 in this EDIL call. In addition, 65%, that is, two out of every three municipalities benefited have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.
In the case of the Community of Madrid, 12 projects of the EDIL Plan have been approved that will benefit 37 municipalities in Madrid with a funding of 58.5 million to promote their sustainable development from the triple environmental, economic and social perspective.
The allocation of this call has been carried out with criteria of territorial cohesion and competitive concurrence. In the case of aid aimed at cohesion and territorial rebalancing, the availability is higher in the less developed regions, while it is lower for the more developed regions, in accordance with the programming criteria established by the European Commission.
Thus, a total of EUR 1,019 million has been earmarked for the less developed regions; EUR 581 million for the transition regions; and EUR 173 million for the more developed regions.
Selection criteria
To qualify for this aid, Local Authorities have had to develop a Local Integrated Development Strategy (EDIL) to identify the main challenges it faces in the medium term (social, economic, environmental or demographic, among others) and address them from an integrated city model, with the participation and involvement of local actors.
Based on this Strategy, the municipalities have presented an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) to specify the scope of action to be financed by the aid. This Plan includes the implementation program with the projects to be implemented, its integrated approach, budget details and expected results.
In the calls for these EDIL grants, more than 40 areas of intervention were established around digitalization and local economic dynamization, energy efficiency, climate change prevention, circular economy, water resources, sustainable urban mobility, social inclusion or urban, cultural and tourist heritage, among others.
The call has been resolved taking into account criteria such as integrated planning and the transformative capacity of the projects. Also governance, participation and administrative and financial capacity, as well as the degree of maturity and viability of projects and complementarity and synergies with other programs. Projects can be implemented until 2029.