Spain will become the first country in the European Union to receive the third payment of European funds. The first vice president, Nadia Calviño, has advanced this Thursday that the disbursement, of 6,000 million euros, is expected for next week, once the European Commission gave the go-ahead in February for compliance with the commitments made. Brussels is expected to authorize the unlocking of the item in the next few hours, indicate sources from the Ministry of Economy.
The Government has managed to speed up this third disbursement. Calviño herself stated last week that the payment was scheduled for the first half of April. But, finally, it will be next week. Spain is the most advanced nation in this exchange of commitments for European funds and with the disbursement of 6,000 million it will reach the figure of 37,000 million received in transfers.
The head of Economy has also highlighted that the Executive is already working on the request for the fourth payment, once approved and published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), the pension reform. Spain will request another 10,000 million.
The Government is also finalizing the addendum, with new milestones to be able to mobilize the 84,000 million in loans and another 2,600 million for infrastructure and energy efficiency within the REPowerEU program, as Calviño herself explained in an act organized by ‘El Economista’.
On the degree of actual execution of European funds, a common complaint from the political opposition and various regional governments, the Executive has authorized 10,757 million in the first weeks of the year, almost 40% of the 28,692 million budgeted for the entire year. Of them, 5,788 million have already been unlocked.
Since the deployment of the recovery plan, the Government has authorized 58,028 million euros in transfers. Economy and Treasury classify these funds as “recognized obligations”, which is not the same as execution. Both Calviño and María Jesús Montero usually explain, however, that this figure is already computed in the “real economy” because the beneficiary of the aid already knows that he will receive it, even though the payment has not yet been made. In 2022, the authorized total was 25,143 million and a year earlier, in 2021, 22,129 million were unlocked.
The person in charge of the economic area of ??the Government already specified last week the allocation of funds by autonomous communities as of March 8. In total, 21,609 million have been authorized, with Andalusia being the most benefited region, with 3,420 million. It is followed by Catalonia, with 3,181 million; the Community of Madrid, with 2,374 million; and the Valencian Community, with 2,060 million. In a lower step are the Canary Islands, with 1,383 million assigned; Castilla y León, with 1,353 million; Galicia, with 1,276 million; and Castilla-La Mancha, with 1,060 million.
Below that figure are the Basque Country, with 895 million allocated, the Balearic Islands, with 884 million; Aragon, with 744 million; Extremadura, with 706 million; Murcia, with 648 million; Asturias, with 527 million; Navarra, with 425 million; Cantabria, with 352 million; and La Rioja, with 240 million. Ceuta and Melilla have received a contribution of 41 and 40 million from European funds.
After two days of debate on Vox’s motion of no confidence, Calviño has highlighted the main economic challenge facing the Government at this time is inflation. After mobilizing 45,000 million last year, the Minister of Economy has highlighted that this 2023 will be characterized by “great volatility”, as the Bank of Spain pointed out yesterday, although with a CPI that will be over half of last year’s levels .
“The measures are effective but we cannot be satisfied,” he stated in reference to the price of food. Calviño added that “the evolution of business margins must be closely monitored.” “We all have to contribute to controlling prices”, he concluded.
