Foreign Ministry will again grant €800,000 to think tanks addressing its priorities

Eduardo González The State Secretariat for Foreign and Global Affairs will grant a maximum of €800,000 to private, non-profit organizations that participate in the study, analysis, and implementation of Spanish foreign policy priorities. The resolution, signed on May 18 by the State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, Diego Martínez Belío, and published the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), establishes that the maximum amount of these grants is €800,000 “distributed among all successful applicants.” Therefore, the funding remains the same as in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and is even increased by 28% from the €625,000 allocated in the 2022 call for proposals. The objective of these grants is to promote the study, development of thought, and analysis of Spanish, European, and other states' and international organizations' foreign policy, as well as to support civil society activities aligned with the priority lines of Spanish foreign policy. Eligible beneficiaries are private, non-profit entities that are Spanish citizens or have been incorporated under Spanish law, or that, having been incorporated under the law of a third country, have their headquarters in Spain and recognized legal capacity under Spanish law. Furthermore, these entities must have among their statutory purposes the development of activities related to Spanish foreign policy. In accordance with Spanish foreign policy priorities, preference will be given to projects that focus on one of the following areas: a strong and sovereign Europe (the EU's common defense and NATO's European pillar), European Union policy and Spain's role in West Africa and the Sahel, investment in Africa (“how to overcome the risk aversion of Spanish companies in a fragile business climate?”) or regional stability in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region. Activities related to cybersecurity, hybrid threats and the fight against disinformation, governance and self-regulation of artificial intelligence, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) as a key element for the implementation and coordination of the New Deal for the Mediterranean, new dynamics in the Middle East and the Gulf, the geoeconomic configuration of East and Southern Africa, the polar regions, violent extremism as the basis for new forms of terrorism, and the reform and strengthening of multilateralism “based on international law, as a pillar of committed global governance” will also be considered. In the 2025 call for proposals, the largest individual grant (almost €94,000) was again awarded to the Centre d’Informació i Documentació Internacionals a Barcelona (CIDOB, chaired by former minister and former EU High Representative Josep Borrell), this time for the project ‘War and Peace in the 21st Century (High-Level Conference)’. This think tank also received the most funding, with almost €166,000 for a total of three projects. The second largest individual grant went to the European Council on Foreign Relations Association, with €43,280 for the project ‘Spain’s Role in Redefining the European Strategy for the Indo-Pacific’. This think tank also received the third largest grant, with €41,280 for the project ‘Technology, Sovereignty and Democracy: Spain’s Contribution to the European Fight Against Hybrid Threats and Information Manipulation’, and was also the second most funded entity, with over €122,500 for three projects. The fourth largest individual grant went to the Oxfam-Intermon Foundation, with €40,000 for the project ‘Youth in the Sahel: Priorities and Aspirations in a New Regional and Global Scenario’. Separately, the think tank with the most funded projects was the Fundación Alternativas, with almost €128,000 for four initiatives. Among the other organizations, the Real Instituto Elcano received almost €54,400 for three projects, and the FAES Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies received around €43,500 for two initiatives.

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