The automobile has also been taken into account in the omnibus decree approved on Tuesday by the Central Government and which entered into force today. The rule includes a flexibility of the deadlines so that the companies benefiting from the first delivery of the Electric and Connected Vehicle (VEC) grant can request a postponement of the deadline for the execution of the winning projects. Until now, the maximum limit for having them finished was September 30, 2025, but with the modification of the decree, it is extended by another thirty months, that is, until the beginning of 2028.
The Ministry of Industry has introduced these modifications to the rule to equalize the execution terms of the first delivery of the Perte de la automobile with those of the second. Among the companies that can apply for this deadline extension are Seat, which received 397 million in the initial call; Mercedes, with a 170 million subsidy; Opel, Renault, Sapa or Peugeot, among others. All these companies presented tractor projects and will now have to justify the reasons why they claim the extension of the execution times. Those interested will have to do so explicitly, indicating for which projects and reasons why they will be evaluated later.
Industry sources explain that “the impact on supply chains, the semiconductor crisis and the various consequences arising from the war in Ukraine have mainly motivated the extension of the execution times planned at the beginning”. The rigidity of the deadlines led Ford to give up the aid at one time.
The decision has been well received by car companies. The director general of the employer Anfac, José López-Tafall, states that “the bases of the first call were very demanding, and affected industrial decisions of great depth in a context of high technological uncertainty and, also, geostrategic competition for the new industrial investments”. The business organization describes the decision as “logical”, especially if it takes place after the European Commission has devoted a greater effort to strengthening strategic competitiveness.
“We are considering a crucial moment for the Spanish automotive industry and it is essential that all the funds designated for the Perte VEC are allocated to the investment, development and future start-up of projects that consolidate us as an electromobility hub”, he adds López-Tafall.
In the statement of reasons for the “omnibus” decree, the Spanish Government explains the problems that have threatened the automobile industry, which represents 10% of GDP, according to Anfac. The Executive cites the “bottlenecks of the value chain, essentially in the field of batteries”, and the “conjunctural problems in the supply of raw materials”.
The omnibus decree, which needs to be validated by Congress in January, also extends the deadlines for the implementation of aid called for the tourism sector within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. Specifically, it grants a wider deadline, until September 30, 2024, to complete these actions in the digitization of the country’s main industry.
The Central Government explains that it takes this decision because the current deadline allowed by the 2022 base order and call “is very tight to carry out the projects and a delay can put the execution and fulfillment of milestones at risk and committed objectives”.
