The Diplomat
The European Commission has approved a third disbursement to Spain of 6,000 million euros from the European Next Generation recovery funds, which brings to 31,000 million the amount that our country has already received.
Specifically, Brussels has positively assessed the fulfillment of 29 milestones and objectives (23 milestones and six objectives) linked to the third disbursement of the Recovery Plan, for a total of 6 billion euros. The Government of Spain formally requested the disbursement on November 11, 2022, after having met the milestones and targets throughout the first half of 2022.
The Commission must now submit its positive assessment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which will issue an opinion within four weeks. For this, the EFC will rely on the opinion of the Economic Policy Committee (EPC), which will be held next week. Once the EFC’s opinion has been issued, the Commission will reflect it in the corresponding payment decision. In total, the transfer of funds to Spain is estimated to take about six weeks.
With the 29 milestones and targets that make up the third disbursement, Spain has already met 121 milestones and targets out of a total of 416, equivalent to almost 30% of the total milestones and targets. If finally approved, the EUR 6 billion would be added to the EUR 31.036 billion that Spain has already received, EUR 9.036 billion of which in pre-financing and EUR 22 billion corresponding to the first and second disbursement. Once the disbursement has taken place, Spain will have received 53% of its due in non-refundable transfers.
According to the Government, “Spain remains the most advanced EU country in the implementation of the Plan”. “No Member State, so far, has obtained the positive assessment of the third disbursement or has fulfilled a similar percentage of commitments,” it added. The decision of Brussels “endorses that we comply with the planned schedule and lead the deployment of the Recovery Plan in Europe,” said yesterday the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño.
