The Diplomat
Spain will allocate 40% of the 27,633 million euros it will receive from the ‘Next Generation EU’ funds next year to the industry, energy, R&D&I and digitalisation sectors, according to the preliminary draft General State Budget (PGE) for 2022 approved this week at an extraordinary Council of Ministers, reports Europa Press.
“The year 2022 will be when citizens and companies will perceive the positive effects of European funds in all their magnitude”, defended the Minister of Finance and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, after the approval of the public accounts for next year. The Budget includes the 27,633 million euros that Spain is due to receive from the European funds, a figure 3.8% higher than the previous year.
This amount represents an “injection” into Spanish investment, since 85% of these resources are distributed between real investments and capital transfers. This means that practically nine out of every ten euros of the 2022 European funds will be allocated to investments.
Specifically, 19.8% will go to industry and energy and 19.6% to R&D&I and digitalisation. After these priority investments, the weight of funds in infrastructure and resilient ecosystems (17.4%); access to housing and promotion of construction (9%); trade, tourism and SMEs (7.1%); education (5.8%); social services and social promotion (4.7%); promotion of employment (2.9%) or vaccines against Covid-19 (2.7%), among others, stands out.
Thus, in industrial policy, an investment of 3,184.5 million euros from Community resources is planned; in the housing rehabilitation and urban regeneration plan, 2,839 million euros; in sustainable mobility, 2,184.6 million; in fair and inclusive energy transition, 1,646 million euros; and in boosting SMEs, 2,140 million, among other components.
Some of the specific measures of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan included in the Budget and announced by the Treasury Minister are the promotion of electric vehicles, with 445 million; increasing the supply of affordable rental housing, with 500 million, and the development of innovative renewable energies, with 435 million.
In addition, the promotion of youth employment (255 million); the promotion of industrial competitiveness and sustainability (2,784.5 million); digitalisation actions for SMEs (1,626 million); transformation of the tourism model towards sustainability (766.7 million); the deployment of 5G (600 million); new railway infrastructures in the corridors (635 million) and more resources for research activity (521.5 million) are also proposed.
