The EU gives partial green light to Spain’s sixth disbursement of €5.7 billion under NextGenerationEU

The Diplomat The European Commission has partially authorized the disbursement corresponding to Spain's sixth payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, part of the NextGenerationEU program. The amount associated with this assessment totals €5.7 billion. The decision also includes the inclusion in the payment of two milestones that had been suspended in the previous assessment for the fifth request. The decision is based on the verification carried out by the European Commission services, which concluded that Spain has demonstrated compliance with 51 milestones and 64 of the 67 objectives included in the Council Implementing Decision that governs the plan. This framework establishes the conditions that link disbursements to the implementation of reforms and investments previously agreed upon by the Member State. The set of actions assessed in this application is part of Spain's Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is structured around structural reforms and investments in various areas of public policy. These include measures related to the housing market, through modifications to the regulatory framework and the operation of the state-owned company SEPES, as well as recommendations on urban planning. They also include actions in the healthcare system linked to the creation of a state public health agency, the management of healthcare personnel availability, and changes in specialized training. In the area of sustainable mobility, investments in transport infrastructure are planned, including actions on the trans-European TEN-T network with digitalization components. Industrial projects grouped under the PERTE scheme, aimed at production modernization processes, are also included. In parallel with the assessment of the sixth application, the Commission has reviewed outstanding items from the fifth payment request. In this context, the Commission has confirmed that the milestone related to the digitalization of regional and local entities has been completed, allowing for the addition of €25 million to the planned disbursement. Furthermore, after analyzing additional information provided by the Spanish authorities, the Commission has proposed the partial release of €277 million associated with a tax-related milestone that was previously suspended. The assessment is still ongoing with regard to three objectives included in the sixth payment request. These objectives relate to bilingual vocational training, telecare services, and projects aimed at supporting vulnerable groups, entrepreneurship, and micro-enterprises. The Commission has indicated that Spain may submit a request for amendment to adjust the wording of these objectives in order to facilitate the verification of their fulfillment, while maintaining the content of the measures. The administrative procedure now continues with the submission of the preliminary assessment to the Economic and Financial Committee, which has four weeks to issue its opinion. Following this opinion, the Commission may adopt the final payment decision. In parallel, Spain has a period to submit observations on the targets not yet considered met. Should the Commission maintain its assessment after this exchange, the amounts corresponding to these targets would be temporarily suspended and subject to an additional period for their implementation and subsequent verification. Since the plan's inception, Spain has already received €76 billion under the mechanism, including the initial pre-financing. This amount represents a significant portion of the total allocated in the national recovery plan, which is financed through NextGenerationEU and is aimed at reforms and investments in areas such as digitalization, the energy transition, social cohesion, and the modernization of public services. The mechanism's timetable stipulates that Member States must complete the outstanding milestones by August 2026 and submit their final payment requests by September of that same year.

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