Commission proposes to greenlight payment of €23 billion to Spain under NextGenerationEU

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the Commission positively assessed Spain’s fifth payment request for 23 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU. This assessment is a significant step towards the disbursement of EU funds to support Spain’s economic growth and resilience efforts.

The Commission found that Spain delivered reforms and investments that will benefit citizens and businesses, focusing on key areas such as the green and digital transitions, biodiversity, sustainable mobility, research, development and innovation, social rights, education and vocational training, culture, sustainable tourism, water management, and justice efficiency.

Flagship measures covered by Spain’s payment request include reforms to boost the uptake of renewable energy and make renewable energy investments more appealing. The reforms will cut red tape and ensure clean energy sources are better connected to the power grid and other sectors of the economy. Spain will also invest EU funds to make short-distance rail travel more appealing and accessible, to make it the go-to option for urban commuters and cut down car use in city regions.

All these initiatives will have a positive impact on the environment, public health, and the economy, ultimately benefiting citizens and businesses in Spain.

Activation of suspension procedure

However, the Commission assessed that Spain has not yet delivered on two key milestones. These relate to a tax reform and investments in digitalising regional and local entities, ensuring easier access for citizens to government services.

As a result, the Commission will suspend the payment related to these milestones. Spain will be granted additional time to complete the outstanding milestones, while still receiving a partial payment for the milestones that have been successfully fulfilled.

This approach is in line with the RRF Regulation and the Commission’s implementation guidelines published on 21 February 2023.

Fulfilment of pending targets

The Commission also confirms that the previously unfulfilled target – target 201, as foreseen in Spain’s plan – for investments in business digitalisation and small and medium enterprises support has been achieved. The Commission will release the corresponding funds in the fifth disbursement.

Next steps

The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of Spain’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Spain can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission.

Background

The Spanish recovery and resilience plan comprises 111 reforms and 142 investments in 595 milestones and targets. It amounts to €163 billion, of which €79.8 billion in grants and €83.2 billion in loans.

Today’s assessment by the Commission found that Spain has satisfactorily completed 82 out of the 84 milestones and targets linked to the fifth payment request, which covers important steps in the delivery of 20 reforms and 49 investments.

More information on Spain’s Recovery and Resilience plan is available online, which features an interactive map of projects financed by the RRF, as well as on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard. More information on the process of payment requests under the RRF can be found in this document of questions and answers.