Calviño expects the second disbursement of the Recovery Fund "in the next few days"

Calviño will send a letter to the presidents of the autonomous communities requesting their proposals to include in the addendum to the Plan

MADRID, 18 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, hopes that the second disbursement of the Recovery Fund, which amounts to 12,000 million euros, will be made "in the coming days", after the request exceeded last week the evaluation of the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Union (EFC, for its acronym in English).

At the end of April, the Government of Spain formally requested the second disbursement of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism for a value of 12,000 million euros, which corresponds to the fulfillment of 40 milestones and objectives (31 milestones and 9 objectives), which have been fulfilled throughout the second half of 2021.

"All the data reflects the acceleration in the deployment of the Recovery Plan", stated the first vice president at a press conference after the fourth meeting of the Sectoral Conference for Regulatory Improvement and the Business Climate with the representatives of the autonomous communities , the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP).

With data up to July 7, the percentage of execution of the authorized budget of the Recovery Plan by the General State Administration exceeds 53% of the total budgeted credit, a percentage equivalent to 15,100 million euros. On their side, commitments are close to 34% and recognized obligations are around 23%.

To date, the Government has allocated almost 16,000 million euros to the autonomous communities to finance projects within the scope of their powers and they have already resolved 650 calls at the regional level, which have 21,000 beneficiary projects.

"Since May, the calls resolved by the autonomous communities have doubled and the number of companies, individuals, universities and research centers that benefit from European funds has tripled," the vice-president highlighted.

The regions that have received the largest transfer of Next Generation EU funds from the Recovery Plan are Andalusia (2,598 million euros), Catalonia (2,227 million euros), Community of Madrid (1,689 million euros), the Canary Islands (1,099 million euros), Castilla y León (998 million euros) and Galicia (951 million euros).

The vice president has reported that during the meeting the preparation of the addendum to the Recovery Plan has also been addressed, which will include new investments and reforms for the more than 7,700 million additional transfers and the mobilization of the almost 85,000 million in credits that correspond to Spain.

Calviño recalled that a fund will be set up with the autonomous communities to mobilize part of these loans and has announced that a letter will soon be sent to the presidents of the autonomous communities and cities requesting their proposals for the addendum that the Government wants present to the European Commission in the second part of the year.

The vice president has valued the "constructive tone" of this sectoral conference in which an assessment of the evolution of the economy in different territories of the country has been made. According to Calviño, all the attendees have shown their concern about inflation, although they have agreed to confirm the positive vision regarding the country's economic growth and employment.

Despite the uncertainties due to the war in Ukraine and the inflationary escalation, the first vice president has once again highlighted the Government's commitment to pensioners, recalling that the revaluation of pensions is established by law and the Executive "is going to comply with it". "We are going to fulfill public commitments assumed," she reiterated.

"Being one of the groups that has suffered the most in the last two years, it is very important to give a message of calm to all our elders," he reiterated.

At this meeting, a Catalog of Good Regulatory Practices and Business Climate was approved, the result of collaboration between the different administrations. The Catalog identifies good practices of the State, the autonomous communities and local entities to promote business activity that can serve as a reference for the different public administrations with the aim of promoting their knowledge and application in other territories.

The catalog includes more than 90 initiatives presented by the different administrations that, as a common element, improve the regulatory environment and the business climate by simplifying existing legislation, fostering an entrepreneurial culture, preserving a solvent productive fabric, attracting and promoting investments or reducing burdens bureaucratic and simplify procedures. All these initiatives are likely to be extrapolated or applied in different contexts.

The measures, projects and strategies of the participating Administrations have been grouped into ten categories of good practices, among which the following stand out: projects of special territorial interest, support for entrepreneurship, reduction of administrative burdens or analysis and rationalization of procedures. All the autonomous communities, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and several municipalities have participated in the preparation of this document.

The preparation and approval of this document demonstrates the willingness of all administrations to cooperate to improve regulation and the business climate and thus promote investment, job creation and economic growth.