The Government has approved the Royal Decree that regulates the direct granting of a grant of 36.5 million euros to the Autonomous Community of Aragon, from the budget of 2025 of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, for the financing of investment projects that directly or indirectly promote the generation of economic activity in the province of Teruel.

The objective of the grant is to make effective the principle of interterritorial solidarity in the face of the interterritorial inequalities identified in the Autonomous Community of Aragón as a result of the structural peculiarities of the province of Teruel, favoring the generation of economic activity to improve the social welfare of its population.

The Autonomous Community of Aragon will contribute the same amount that the AGE invests for the Teruel Investment Fund (FITE), which for this year will amount to 73 million euros.

Correcting Teruel’s economic imbalances

Article 158 of the Spanish Constitution recognizes the principle of solidarity as an instrument for mitigating territorial inequalities and promoting internal cohesion as an objective of economic and social policy. This constitutional principle is materialized through the Interterritorial Compensation Fund (FCI), of which, due to its income level, the Autonomous Community of Aragón is not a beneficiary.

However, there are internal structural inequalities in the Autonomous Community of Aragon that affect the province of Teruel, on which regional policy cannot act effectively with the general mechanisms available. The province of Teruel therefore requires specific public action to promote measures aimed at correcting the imbalances in the province and the generation of economic activity and employment.

FITE

To this end, the General Administration of the State (AGE) and the Diputación General de Aragón have been collaborating since 1992, through the subscription of different instruments, to finance investments that favor the economic development of the province of Teruel.

In this sense, the Teruel Investment Fund (FITE) is intended to finance investment projects that promote the creation of an area of competitiveness necessary to overcome the socio-economic peculiarities of the province of Teruel and promote the generation of economic activity.

Law 38/2003, General of Subsidies and its Regulations, establishes that “other subsidies may be granted directly where reasons of public, social, economic or humanitarian interest are proven, or other duly justified reasons that hinder their public announcement”. Given that there are reasons of public, social and economic interest to address the situation of the province of Teruel, derived from its structural, demographic and economic characteristics, the direct granting of this subsidy, included in the Strategic Plan of subsidies of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, 2025-2027, is justified.

The beneficiary entity is the Administration of the Autonomous Community of Aragon, which can directly implement the different projects or do so in cooperation with other administrations of the Autonomous Community, especially with local entities.

The grant, 36,500,000 euros, will materialize with the signing of an agreement between the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory and the Administration of the Autonomous Community of Aragon.

The actions foreseen in the Royal Decree that have been developed during the period between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028 will be financiable. The choice and approval of the financed investment projects will be the responsibility of the Government of Aragon, which will communicate the approved projects and the agreed changes to the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory.