Subject: Involvement of Spain’s autonomous communities in the Recovery and Resilience Facility
The Commission has already recognised that involving the autonomous communities in the Recovery and Resilience Facility is ‘essential for the effectiveness of its implementation, as they play a key role in the design and implementation of many policies and investments’ and that ‘more active involvement of the autonomous communities could help to ensure that reforms and investments are implemented effectively’1.
On 23 December, the finance ministers of the governments of Galicia, Castilla y León, Madrid, Andalusia, Murcia and the autonomous city of Ceuta issued a joint statement2 criticising the government for failing to involve the autonomous communities in the preparation of the their ‘addendum’ to the Recovery and Resilience Plan3.
In the statement, the finance ministers call for a meeting between the government and the autonomous communities to work on the new addendum to this source of EU funding. The minsters point out the government is again making the mistake of acting without ‘dialogue and transparency’ in its application for loans under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.
Is the Commission aware of this statement? What view does it take of it?
Submitted: 10.1.2023
1 Commission Staff Working Document. Analysis of the recovery and resilience plan of Spain accompanying
the proposal for a Council Implementing Decision on the approval of the assessment of the recovery and resilience plan for Spain. SWD(2021) 147 final.
https://comunicacion.jcyl.es/web/jcyl/Comunicacion/es/Plantilla100Detalle/1284877983892/NotaPrensa/ 1285230360116/Comunicacion.
3 https://www.elmundo.es/economia/2022/12/23/63a59180fc6c83515d8b45d2.html.
Joint answer given by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis on behalf of the European Commission (21 February 2023)
The Commission has consistently reminded Member States of the importance of consultations of relevant stakeholders on the preparation and implementation of recovery and resilience plans (RRP).
Regulation (EU) 2021/241 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (4) requires Member States to provide a summary of the consultation process, conducted in accordance with the national legal framework, of local and regional authorities, amongst other relevant stakeholders concerned with the implementation of the recovery and resilience plan.
The amendments to that regulation in the context of REPowerEU add that the summary should also cover the consultation process for the potential reforms and investments to be included in the REPowerEU chapter.
1 ∙ ⸱ Commission Staff Working Document. Analysis of the recovery and resilience plan of Spain accompanying the proposal for a Council Implementing Decision on the
approval of the assessment of the recovery and resilience plan for Spain. SWD(2021) 147 final. 2 ∙ ⸱ https://comunicacion.jcyl.es/web/jcyl/Comunicacion/es/Plantilla100Detalle/1284877983892/NotaPrensa/1285230360116/Comunicacion. 3 ∙ ⸱ https://www.elmundo.es/economia/2022/12/23/63a59180fc6c83515d8b45d2.html. 4 ∙ ⸱ Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, OJ L 57, 18.2.2021,
p. 17.
| | ) The updated summary should list the stakeholders consulted, explain the outcome of the complementary consultation and outline how the input received from the stakeholders concerned was reflected in REPowerEU chapters.
Stakeholders should be allowed sufficient time to react while ensuring a speedy finalisation of the REPowerEU chapter by the Member State.
The Commission follows closely ongoing work in Spain in view of the forthcoming amendment of its recovery and resilience plan.
The Sectorial Conference on Recovery, Transformation and Resilience was set up with the aim of channelling cooperation between regions, local entities and central government to implement the plan.
The implementation of the plan is also dealt with in many other sector-specific conferences. On 30 January 2023, for instance, the Sectorial Conference for Regulatory Improvement and the Business Climate met to discuss RRP issues (5).
5 ∙ ⸱ https://planderecuperacion.gob.es/noticias/las-comunidades-autonomas-han-convocado-el-50-de-los-casi-20600-millones-de-euros | | ( | | )