- Within the economic cooperation initiated in 1992 to finance investments that favor the economic development of the province of Teruel
The Council of Ministers has authorized the granting to the Autonomous Community of Aragon of a grant of 30 million euros, included in the expenditure budget of the Ministry of Territorial Policy of 2021, for the financing of investments in the province of Teruel.
The same amount will be provided by the Autonomous Community of Aragon and both administrations will agree the identification of a series of projects that will be financed from the Teruel Investment Fund (FITE), which will be approved in the Monitoring Committee of the agreement.
Investments for the development of the province of Teruel
Among the general investment projects to be financed by the agreement, which is planned to be signed, are the following:
· Support for the creation and improvement of transport infrastructures, aimed at improving the accessibility of the province of Teruel and its integration into the intra-regional and inter-regional transport networks.
· Support for the development and implementation of business initiatives, mainly in the industrial, agri-food and tourism fields, with respect to European Union regulations on State aid.
· Support for investments aimed at the protection and improvement of the environment and the improvement of environmental conditions and the development of the information society, education, social leisure or sports facilities, health care, public housing and social services.
Special collaboration of the AGE with Aragon since 1992
To make this cooperation effective, both administrations have been collaborating since 1992 through successive agreements, as a channeling instrument of the subsidies provided in the General State Budgets (PGE), intended to finance investments that favor the economic development of the province of Teruel.
The implementation of these agreements has allowed the fulfillment of the objectives set in each year for the development of the province of Teruel and, with the current draft agreement, it is intended to continue with the investments in 2021.
The Spanish Constitution includes in its article 158 the principle of interterritorial solidarity, to attenuate territorial inequalities and seek internal cohesion, and is made effective through the Interterritorial Compensation Fund (FCI). The CRF is intended to finance investment expenses in the less developed territories, which directly or indirectly promote the creation of income and wealth in the beneficiary territory.
The FCI, as an additional financing instrument, does not exist for the Autonomous Community of Aragón, given its income level, but there are internal structural inequalities that affect the province of Teruel and on which regional policy cannot act effectively with the general mechanisms available that require specific public action. In order to deal with this exceptional situation, since 1992, appropriations have been allocated to the PGE to finance the FITE, with a special contribution from the State to address the structural inequalities of the province.