The Government urges communities to speed up the procedures to spend the European funds that expire this yr | Economy | EUROtoday

The Government has made a forceful name to consideration to the autonomous communities within the face of the approaching threat of dropping non-refundable European help. These are numerous neighborhood subsidy strains centered on decarbonization that complete nearly 5,000 million euros. This quantity is a part of the restoration funds that Spain achieved after the covid-19 pandemic (nearly 80,000 million within the help part, not credit), an engine that has partly pushed the expansion of the nationwide economic system above the European common. The normal requires that they be executed by the month of August and authorized in December.

This Friday, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition despatched a letter to the 17 autonomies, to which EL PAÍS has had entry, through which it reminds them that “it is vital to accelerate the management and payment of the programs established within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR)”, that are managed by means of the completely different territories. The communities have but to spend 45% of the European funds allotted to them throughout the neighborhood plan to fight the financial results of the pandemic, in keeping with data printed by this newspaper.

The letter, signed by the final director of the Institute for Diversification and Energy Savings (IDAE), Miguel Rodrigo Gonzalo, regrets that, though the administration bills of those funds are widespread for all communities, “there are significant differences in the degree of execution of the territories.” “In the self-consumption program, some regional administrations have already paid more than 90% of the available funds and others are below 10%,” he provides. It is tough for the Government to grasp, as might be seen from stated letter, how it’s doable that, confronted with the identical state of affairs, some communities have virtually performed their homework and others have barely began.

In this sense, the IDAE knowledge communicate for themselves. The ministry led by Sara Aagesen reveals that solely 37% of subsidies for self-consumption and renewables for households, endowed with greater than 2,000 million euros, have been granted and duly justified. The knowledge could be very heterogeneous between territories: whereas the Basque Country has already resolved 91% of the help it channels, the Principality of Asturias has solely totally accomplished 6% of them.

Something comparable occurs with help for the acquisition of an electrical automotive. In the Moves III Plan, which provides subsidies for greater than 1,335 million euros, giant variations are additionally noticed. Madrid is the neighborhood that has paid and justified essentially the most funds. In complete, 170 million euros, 71% of what was granted. Meanwhile, the Region of Murcia had solely accomplished 3% of the help acquired on the finish of 2025. It has allotted greater than 22 million to residents who purchased electrical automobiles however has solely justified 727,221 euros, in keeping with IDAE knowledge.

In complete, this plan, one of the widespread amongst residents, has fulfilled 48% of the funds paid. The relaxation are but to be secured earlier than Brussels. The difficulty is particularly painful on this Moves III plan, which has been closed because the finish of 2024. That is, greater than a yr later, lower than half of the funds have been totally processed.

The communities have been repeatedly criticized for his or her lack of velocity. At the Energy Sector Conference that met in December, the Secretary of State for Energy, Joan Groizard, reiterated to his territorial counterparts “the need to accelerate the management and justification of subsidies granted to citizens and companies, which must be completed before the end of the first half of 2026, according to European regulations.”

The present state of affairs is restrict. If the completely different territories don’t adjust to the neighborhood necessities relating to the help granted earlier than August 31 of this yr, Spain is uncovered to having stated help claimed, along with dropping all these funds that haven’t been paid by that date. If this state of affairs happens, it could happen that the neighborhood authorities declare the help paid. And that might result in accusations of cross duty between the events, along with the uncertainty it generates for the recipients of the help.

That is why the Government tries to keep away from this speculation in any respect prices and doesn’t throw within the towel. To streamline the procedures, the IDAE itself assures within the letter despatched this Friday that it has managed to simplify administrative procedures that enable the issue to be solved extra shortly.

Specifically, sources from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition clarify: “It has been achieved that the documentation that must be presented to the European Commission to prove compliance with the objectives is not a verification report issued by the autonomous community body that issued the aid, which is generated at the end of the entire administrative procedure, but rather the documentation presented by the beneficiary of the aid to justify it, in accordance with the regulatory bases, such as the circulation permit in the case of MOVES, the energy efficiency certificates of the buildings in the case of PREE and PREE 5000, or the supporting report in the case of self-consumption.” This means that the negotiation with Brussels allows, instead of having to require various documents to submit to the Treasury through the CoFFEE platform, it can be simplified with less bureaucracy. A milestone that was already transferred on January 15 in the Advisory Commission that is held with those responsible for the communities.

But regardless of this, there are points which are worrying and that is what the central authorities denounces to the territorial administrations. The communities had the power to acquire funds to rent personnel to hurry up the bureaucratic course of. However, actuality exhibits that of the 218 million complete allotted to this goal, solely 77 million euros have been reported for this objective. That is, 35% of the accessible capability.