The Government already has the addendum to the Recovery Plan ready, which will seek to mobilize up to 84,000 million in loans. They will be soft loans, in better conditions than those of the market, but that will have to be repaid over the next few years. The economic document links the receipt of these aids to some reforms, such as administrative streamlining for the granting of certain aids, but always of lesser importance than the changes that the Executive has had to approve in order to receive the transfers of European funds, such as the pension or labor reform.
The addendum that the Council of Ministers plans to approve this Tuesday includes a request to the European Commission for 84,000 million in credits, 7,700 million in new transfers and 2,600 million from the RePower EU plan. To these must be added the 70,000 million in transfers already granted and of which Spain has received 37,000 million.
The real novelty are the loans, which will be granted, explain sources from the Government’s economic area, at the interest rate that the community executive obtains in the issuance of the Next Generation EU funds, to which management expenses must be added. The type will always be lower than that of the Treasury, by fifty points, and, of course, that of the commercial network. The repayment period will be 30 years and the risk of non-payment will be borne by the autonomous community, which will have to return the money to the State and, by extension, to the European Commission.
Interested parties will have at their disposal more than a dozen funds through which community loans will be channeled. The jewel in the crown is the “Fund for the Autonomous Communities”, an instrument endowed with 20,000 million, which will complement the regional financing, which will be managed together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and which, according to the Government, has been agreed with the autonomous governments (the negotiations were held before the electoral call of 28-M and in some cases the future executives will be of another color). It will serve so that the autonomous communities can offer advantageous credits for investments in social housing, sustainable transport, competitiveness in tourism, water management, care, commerce and SMEs.
The first vice president, Nadia Calviño, announced this Monday another line of 2,200 million to, through tax incentives, finance investments by families and SMEs in environmental sustainability. In total there will be 22,500 million in credits available to small and medium-sized businesses, with 2,500 destined for the modernization of the tourism sector.
Another outstanding fund will be endowed with 15,000 million and will serve to finance investments in renewable energies. It will be available to SMEs and the self-employed and will be channeled by the Official Credit Institute (ICO) and there will be a specific line dedicated to investments in renewable energies. The Executive has also decided to activate lines focused on grouping loans to companies with technological initiatives, promoting the minimum vital income, the Red labor market mechanism or support for the audiovisual industry, among other issues.
Economy will also expand the so-called Digital Kit to companies with more than 49 workers, offering them digitization bonuses of between 25,000 to 29,000 euros, Calviño herself advanced this Monday.
Large foreign investors will also have at their disposal a special line for co-investment. It is aimed at sovereign wealth funds from other countries interested in investing in Spain. Mubadala, from Abu Dhabi; Kia, from Kuwait; QatarM or the Singapore fund are some of the interested parties. The objective is to help these giants to join forces with local companies to activate their business commitments.
The European Commission will have two months to assess Spain’s addendum, although the funds and reforms to be implemented have already been negotiated with the community authorities. The release of the credits, therefore, is not expected until after the general elections.
The Government has also asked Brussels to extend the execution period of the Recovery Plan beyond 2026. It has done so together with four other countries: Germany, Luxembourg, Finland and Estonia. The objective is to manage to modify the milestones and objectives to “ensure that 100% of the European funds are used”. In the part of the electric vehicle, the calendar for executing the projects has already been extended to 2028.
