Two public companies, Enisa (Empresa Nacional d’Innovacion) and Idae (Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving), will be the key instruments in the execution of the final tranche of European funds. Between the two, they will manage the distribution of 6,833 million and, as a great innovation introduced in the recent negotiation of the Addendum to the Recovery Plan, they will serve to save one of the problems that the large companies and SMEs were facing in the time to plan and launch projects: Brussels stipulated that business initiatives had to be completed by December 31, 2026 at the latest, a time too rigid to, for example, launch an electric battery factory or a hydrogen production plant.
The negotiators of the European Commission were the ones who proposed that two state companies, and not the ministries directly, should manage the final part of the European funds, explain sources involved in the talks. The objective of Brussels is for political managers to disappear from the direct execution of community aid from 2027. In other words, both Enisa and Idea will from that moment become part of the so-called “executive partners” of the European aid and will put the stamp on the Recovery Plan. Specifically, between the two teams they will execute up to four Perte (strategic projects for economic recovery and transformation): industrial decarbonisation, hydrogen, electric vehicles and agri-food.
To activate this new enforcement function, Enisa still needs some additional procedures. First, the company dependent on the Ministry of Industry will be legally established as a public company (it is not yet). Next, he will need to scale and retrain, as he will have to act as an interlocutor with giants in the energy, automotive or industry in general. At the moment it is dedicated to the financing of innovative projects of Spanish SMEs.
Enisa will manage 3,330 million of European funds in the coming years. 1,480 million corresponding to the decarbonisation grant, divided into 430 million in subsidies and 1,050 million in loans; 1,250 million from the electric vehicle Perte, divided into 250 million in transfers and 1,000 million in credits and 300 million in loans from the agri-food Perte. These amounts, added to 300 million to boost innovative SMEs, complete the new investment push that will manage the future public company. Idae, for its part, will manage another 3,500 million of the Perte of renewable hydrogen.
The team of the Ministry of Industry, with Héctor Gómez at the head, has been an active part in this negotiation with Brussels to extend the execution period of the European funds. The condition that the Commission demanded is that part of the aid is already implemented in 2026. In the decarbonisation plan, for example, 585 million must be committed by that date. The rest, almost 900 million, can be managed later.
The Minister of Industry, Héctor Gómez, tells La Vanguardia that his portfolio “must have the maximum strength and muscle to help transform the industry and to be more economically competitive”. “We have taken many steps in this direction and this is one more to improve conditions”, he adds. Gómez concludes that “Spain is immersed in a new industrial revolution” and that “to carry it out there is only one way: with unity; unity between administrations and with the entire productive sector, from large companies to small and medium-sized companies”.
José Bayón, CEO of Enisa for five years, for his part, is aware of the challenge his team will take on. “We have demonstrated a great capacity to promote and strengthen innovative Spanish entrepreneurship; now it’s our turn to grow and become, moreover, an instrument for managing industrial policies”. “Without a doubt it is a great challenge, but if we ask the companies [to transform], it is also up to us to do it in the public administration”, he concludes.
