Brussels transfers 6,230 million from the sixth payment of European funds
After this disbursement only one last payment of the funds approved for the covid-19 pandemic will remain
MadridThe European Commission disbursed this Tuesday €6.23 billion corresponding to the sixth payment of European anti-pandemic funds. With this new disbursement, the State has already received €78 billion in transfers and loans from the Next Generation EU funds linked to the Recovery Plan. The amount is equivalent to 76.5% of the €102 billion allocated to the State.
Of the amount paid this Tuesday, €5.97 billion corresponds to the sixth application, which Brussels partially approved on July 2, while €265 million comes from two pending milestones to be met under the fifth application. This time, the Community executive has deemed them valid after a new assessment of the measures implemented.
The sixth application, submitted by the Spanish government on March 3, was linked to reforms and investments in housing construction, improvement of the health system, promotion of sustainable mobility, digitalization of the transport railway network, and different strategic projects (the so-called PERTE).
In any case, there are three objectives of this sixth package that have not been met: Brussels has not been able to certify their fulfillment due to doubts about the mechanisms used to verify their execution. These are investments related to bilingual vocational training, telecare services, and projects aimed at vulnerable groups, entrepreneurs, and micro-enterprises, three objectives on which the State subsequently proposed modifications in the addendum – latest modification – of the Spanish recovery plan. This addendum, approved by the Council of Ministers, also modifies the wording of 121 milestones and objectives and 101 measures of the plan to facilitate its execution and evaluation in the final stretch of this mechanism. Only a seventh and final payment remains to be requested.
Final phase
Spain is now facing the final phase of the recovery plan with the preparation of the seventh and final disbursement, which will involve the review of 146 commitments, after the Spanish government has also adjusted the loan package to reduce the resources it will finally request.
The European calendar requires member states to complete all outstanding objectives before the end of August and submit their final payment requests before the end of September.
