Generalitat selects 27 projects valued at €41bn to receive European funds
The Catalan Government will present the list to the State to be included in the proposal to be sent to Brussels
The Generalitat has presented a total of 27 public and private investment projects that are candidates to receive financing from European funds for economic reconstruction. The investments total €41bn and aim to modernise the Catalan economy, according to the spokesperson of the Government, Meritxell Budó.
The executive will now have to send the list of projects to the Spanish government to be included in the proposal to be submitted to the European Commission before April 30. Thus, the roadmap presented on Tuesday is not final, because it has to pass the filters of Madrid and Brussels before confirming that each of the projects will have EU funding. Likewise, the Catalan government does not know what proportion of each project will be financed by European funds and what will depend on the money invested by the other administrations and private entities.
The proposals have been selected by a group of experts created by the executive some months ago with the aim of discerning which were the most suitable for the Catalan economy. The aim of the reconstruction programme of the European Union, called Next Generation EU (or NextGen), is to modernise the economy of the member states, so the investments that are presented as candidates will have to serve to digitise the economy, bet on productive sectors of high added value and contribute to environmental sustainability.
Of the 27 projects initially approved by the Generalitat, those that would represent a higher investment would be those related to circular economy and industrial decarbonisation, with €7.3bn; the creation of a hub for the electric battery industry, with €6.9bn; a new Catalan platform to bring together companies working on green hydrogen, with €6.6bn; the institutional reform of the science, technology and innovation system, with €2.8bn, and a program to rationalise the use of water, with €2.6bn.
In addition to these, there are projects in other fields, such as the renovation and extension of the railway network, investments in the reduction and treatment of slurry from livestock farms, the revitalisation of urban habitats, the promotion of rural areas, the decarbonisation of mobility and the modernisation of vocational training.
