Subject: Recovery and Resilience Facility in Spain
On 1 December 2023, the Spanish Government published the list of the 100 largest final recipients of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, as required by the Regulation following the February 2023 amendment. This list was sent seven months later than specified by the Regulation, and one and a half months later than the extended deadline granted by the Commission.
This list shows that 61 % of the main recipients of the Recovery and Resilience Facility are public bodies, and that 88 % of the funds earmarked for these 100 recipients has been allotted to public bodies.
In light of this:
1. Do these figures make it difficult to achieve the founding objectives of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, i.e. to revive the economy, improve competitiveness in a global market, help businesses and SMEs and facilitate job creation?
2. Could these figures have the opposite effect to that intended when these funds were conceived and result in an increase in structural public spending and public debt, thus hampering the competitiveness of the Spanish economy?
Submitted:14.12.2023
Answer given by Mr Gentiloni on behalf of the European Commission
(15 March 2024)
The REPowerEU Regulation (1), in force since 1 March 2023, introduced the obligation for Member States to publish data on the 100 final recipients receiving the highest amount of funding under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF ) (2) twice a year.
The regulation does not set a specific deadline to update the data on the 100 largest final recipients, though the Commission has suggested aligning the timing of the updates with the existing bi-annual reporting in April and October. The next data updates are expected in April and October 2024.
In line with the RRF Regulation, a final recipient should be understood as the last entity receiving RRF funds that is not a contractor or a sub-contractor, for example, citizens, regional or local authorities, or small and medium-sized enterprises, and can be either a legal or a natural person.
In line with this definition, public authorities can be final recipients of RRF funds. Since many RRF measures are geared towards improving the provision of public goods, public authorities are often the (largest) final recipients.
Nonetheless, as required by the RRF Regulation (Article 22), Member States are obliged to collect data on the contractors and subcontractors.
Public investment (in e.g., transport or education) can be inducive to economic growth. Overall, regarding the Recovery and Resilience Plan’s (RRP’s) contribution to growth, the Commission gave an ‘A’ Rating to the Spanish RRP for the relevant assessment criterion of Article 19(3), point (c) of the RRF Regulation.
The information provided by Spain concerns the 100 largest final recipients receiving the highest amount of funding for the implementation of measures under the Facility.
These do not have an impact on the general government deficit or debt, regardless of the type of recipient. In addition, the RRF regulation (3) includes precautions not to fund or to encourage permanent increases in recurring national expenditure.
1 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/435/oj
2 ∙ ⸱ https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/economic-recovery/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en
3 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021R0241