Subject: Implementation data and the Recovery and Resilience Facility in Spain
On 31 October 2023, the Spanish General Comptroller of the State Administration (IGAE) published the 2023 General State Budget implementation data.
The chapter on the Recovery and Resilience Facility shows that, of the 754 planned spending programmes worth EUR 12.12 billion, 339 are not yet active. Some were announced by the Government as priority programmes and are cited as examples of best practices by the Commission.
In light of this:
1. What does the Commission make of the fact that, as of 31 October 2023, the Spanish Government has not yet launched or implemented 339 of the 754 spending programmes to receive funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility this year?
2. Does this help achieve the objectives established for those funds and announced by the Government and the Commission? Or does it do the very opposite, creating obstacles to the second-biggest beneficiary of funds in the EU implementing those funds by the date established in the regulation?
Submitted:14.12.2023
Answer given by Mr Gentiloni on behalf of the European Commission
(12 March 2024)
In contrast to other programmes, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) (1) is a performance-based instrument. Payments are made on the basis of the satisfactory fulfilment of the milestones and targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision (CID) (2) as assessed by the Commission based on documentary evidence provided by the Member State, also taking into account the views of the Council.
Spain was the first Member State to submit a payment request and has received three instalments under its Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). So far, Spain has satisfactorily fulfilled 121 milestones and targets and has received EUR 37 billion in disbursements (including EUR 9 billion of pre-financing). Spain submitted its fourth payment claim on 20 December 2023, which the Commission is currently assessing.
Of course, the economic impact of the RRPs depends on their implementation. Sound investments take time to be designed and implemented properly. Data from Eurostat show an increased level of public spending on investment (gross fixed capital formation) since 2019 in Spain. A large share of this increase comes from EU funds and notably the RRF.
In view of the 2026 deadline, the Commission encourages all Member States to step up the implementation of the reforms and investments set out in their recovery and resilience plans.
1 ∙ ⸱ https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/economic-recovery/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en
2 ∙ ⸱ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10150-2021-ADD-1-REV-2/en/pdf