Spain has asked the European Commission to speed up the procedures for approving state aid for ‘Next Generation EU’ funds, with particular attention to strategic economic recovery and transformation projects (Perte) and investments. This was announced on Monday by First Vice-President and Minister of the Economy and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, at a press conference after the meeting with the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton. “Spain will be the engine of growth in Europe in 2023 and in this context it is essential to further accelerate the use of European funds”, underlined the first vice president, after stressing that the Recovery Plan financed with ‘Next Generation EU’ funds it is the fundamental tool to continue promoting the modernization of the Spanish economy in a green and digital key.
In response to the consultation opened by the European Commission itself on the ongoing review of the state aid regulatory framework, Spain has proposed to speed up the procedures for the approval of aid financed with ‘Next Generation EU’ funds, with special attention to projects strategic (Perte) and the rest of the projects and investments of the Recovery Plan for Spain. “It is important that, in the current context, we streamline all procedures and ensure the proper functioning of the internal market”, insisted the first vice-president.
Addendum to the Recovery Plan
Calviño recalled that Spain is currently working on the final document of the addendum to the Recovery Plan which will be sent this month to the European Commission to mobilize the total of 160,000 million euros allocated to Spain between transfers and loans. “We want to focus this addendum to the Plan precisely on promoting industrialization and strategic autonomy in five dimensions: energy, agri-food, industrial, technological and digital”, explained the government’s economic manager, according to Europa Press. In this regard, Calviño has suggested that the Executive convene a sectoral conference with the autonomous communities and the social dialogue table to collect the contributions of economic, political and social agents and complete that addendum to the Recovery Plan and be able to send it to Brussels.
The minister hopes that around 11 February the European Commission will approve and make its positive assessment for the third disbursement of 6,000 million requested by Spain in the context of the ‘Next Generation EU’ funds and recalled that the second part of the pension reform – in which Minister José Luis Escrivá, social agents and political groups currently work – corresponds to the fourth payment of the funds.
Promote European industry
During this Monday’s meeting, Calviño and European Commissioner Thierry Breton spoke of the need to relaunch European industry in an international context characterized by high uncertainty and to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy. During the meeting, the forthcoming Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, which will be held in the second half of this year, was also discussed. The head of Economic Affairs has launched a message of confidence, given that the Spanish economy closed 2022 with growth of more than 5%, the measures implemented by the government together with the drop in energy are allowing a drop in inflation by 5 points in 5 months and the recovery plan continues to boost investments and employment with record levels of affiliation in the country. “All of this demonstrates the strength and resilience of the Spanish economy and provides us with a good basis to face this 2023 and continue to successfully face the challenges to come,” he underlined.
