<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Government will allocate 499,000 euros to subsidize welfare institutions that provide assistance to Spaniards in need abroad, mostly nursing homes run by religious personnel in Latin America.</strong></h4> The call for applications for the 2025 financial year was signed on April 9 by the Director General of Spaniards Abroad and Consular Affairs, Carolina de Manueles Álvarez (representing the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares), and published two days later in the Official State Gazette (BOE). The purpose of the subsidies is to provide financial aid to welfare institutions domiciled abroad that, on their own initiative, provide free or semi-free assistance to Spanish citizens abroad who are in need and lack their own resources, in order to stimulate, compensate, and complement the assistance provided by these institutions. The financial aid granted to these entities will be used to cover expenses related to social, healthcare, or similar assistance for Spanish beneficiaries and, exceptionally, to cover the routine maintenance of the facilities that house them, and the repair or replacement of essential elements for their care carried out during the year in which the grants are awarded. The maximum total amount will be €499,000, and the individual amount of each grant may not exceed €40,000. Furthermore, the sum of all grants awarded to healthcare institutions operating in the same country may not exceed €250,000. The amounts allocated to these grants have remained constant since 2009, just before the outbreak of the financial crisis, when they exceeded €1 million. Generally, the largest beneficiaries are nursing homes run by religious personnel in Latin America. The measures in favor of emigrants aim to guarantee a minimum level of protection for Spanish citizens abroad in situations of need. These measures, according to the Government, seek to ensure their economic, health, and social and labor rights, support their integration, and, where appropriate, facilitate their return to Spain. According to the latest Register of Spaniards Living Abroad (PERE), published on January 1 by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the Spanish population living abroad now exceeds three million people for the first time in history.
