Subject: Royal Decree 1086/2023 on the direct granting of subsidies to third sector entities financed with EU funds
On 12 December 2023, the Spanish Government adopted Royal Decree 1086/2023 on the direct granting of subsidies to third sector entities for digitisation, which grants EUR 97 million in direct aid financed by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, and does so without a public tender having been held.
The Spanish Government’s management of EU funds has already been called into question by various bodies and institutions – including the Commission – and by civil society. In the case of the aforementioned royal decree, the Council of State of the Roma People sent a letter calling for a thorough investigation and a halt to such aid.
In addition, in December 2023, the government published, at the request of the Commission, a list of the main 100 recipients of NextGenerationEU funds, of which more than 60 % turned out to be from the public sector.
In view of the above:
1. What is the Commission’s assessment of the fact that the aid has not been granted on a competitive basis?
2. What is the Commission’s view of the lack of transparency in the granting of the aid?
3. Does the Commission consider that the Spanish Government has misused the concept of ‘reasons of public interest’ to process the aid for digitisation on an exceptional basis and without a public tender procedure having been held?
Submitted:11.4.2024
Answer given by Mr Gentiloni on behalf of the European Commission
(28 June 2024)
Member States are primarily responsible for ensuring that any projects supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility funds comply with the applicable EU and national law.
This obligation, which is clearly laid out in the regulation 2021/241 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF Regulation) (1), also covers the compliance with the General Subsidy Law 38/2003 (2), which establishes the conditions to grant subsidies on a non-competitive basis.
The relevant Annex to the Council Implementing Decision (3) sets the framework for the assessment by the Commission of Spain’s implementation of the national recovery and resilience plan.
Such Council Implementing Decision contains milestone 286 providing for ‘at least 75% of the budget shall have been committed for actions under the investment to train citizens on digital skills’ and milestone 288 including ‘2 600 000 citizens trained on digital skills, according to the actions under the measure. The trainings shall be of at least 7.5 hours’.
The timeline for the completion of these targets is 31 December 2023 and 30 June 2026, respectively. The Commission will assess target 286 in the context of the sixth payment request and target 288 in the context of the tenth payment request.
1 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/241/oj
2 ∙ ⸱ General Subsidy Law 38/2003, of 17 November (https://boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2003-20977).
3 ∙ ⸱ COM(2023) 576 final.