Next Generation EU

Spanish economy 7th January 2026

90 of top 100 beneficiaries of European funds are public entities

Spain’s primary issue with the EU’s Next Gen funds is its low actual execution rate. The latest figures compiled by the General Comptroller of the State Administration (IGAE), closed as of November 2025, report that payments effectively made stand at less than €4.8 billion this year—representing only 27% of the total amount budgeted for the fiscal year. However, the bulk of direct EU transfers has already been disbursed, making it…

In Spain 18th December 2025

Spain abandons 64 EU-funded plans deemed “unachievable”

The European Commission has revealed that the Spanish Government has abandoned 64 measures originally planned to be financed with European funds for various reasons that render them “unreachable.” This was disclosed in the Commission’s decision to accept Spain’s new Recovery Plan, in which the Government extensively revises its 2021 commitments downwards, withdraws from major programs—the so-called PERTEs—and renounces 37% of the European funds to which it was entitled. According to…

Spanish economy 9th December 2025

Government reduces reform agenda to secure arrival of €25 billion from European recovery plan

The Government has already agreed with Brussels on a new scenario of milestones and targets so that Spain can access all the remaining direct aid from the Recovery Plan. What is at stake is the way to capture and execute the nearly €24.7 billion in outstanding non-reimbursable funds before the opportunity expires in August of next year. After several weeks of intense negotiations with the European Commission, the Ministry of…

Spanish economy 8th October 2025

Spain: Only One-Third of Next Gen Funds Awarded One Year before Deadline

According to the Government’s portal (“Elisa del Plan de Recuperación”), as of August 31, 2026, a total of €79.854 billion has been reserved for various projects between the Central Administration and the autonomous communities. However, of this amount, only €56.7 billion has been “resolved” or awarded, which does not mean the funds have reached their final recipient. In other words, only one-third of the €163 billion in Next Gen funds…

In Spain 8th July 2025

Brussels Freezes Over €1.1 Billion from Spain’s Fifth Next Gen Payment Due to Unmet Tax Reform

Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission has cut €1.1 billion from the fifth payment of Next Generation EU funds to Spain. This payment, which totals €23 billion (€8 billion in grants and the rest in loans), has been reduced because Spain lacks the votes in Congress to pass measures like the diesel tax increase—intended to equalize it with gasoline prices—one of the key reforms demanded by Brussels. This comes despite…

In Spain 2nd July 2025

Brussels Urges Spain to Accelerate Next Gen EU Funds, Citing Only 30% Received Compared to Italy’s 72%

Spain’s Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, has been stuck for months in negotiations with Brussels over the fifth payment of the Next Gen EU funds, totaling €23.9 billion: €8 billion in grants and €15.9 billion in soft loans. Because Pedro Sánchez’s government did not request the loans from Brussels until March 2023, Spain has only received €47.96 billion in grants and €340 million in loans so far. This means a…

Interviews 16th May 2024

“European funds are not reaching companies. There is total inefficiency”

Isabel Dutilh, director of Elecnor, Banco Alcalá and Millenium Real State explains in an interview with Mari Pinardo in the magazine Consejeros that “Europe has to have control of the funds and this requires a certain amount of bureaucracy, but in the end it is so much bureaucracy that it generates frustration and people give up applying for them”. Q – There are continuous and constant legislative changes, what do…

Spain seizes good moment in risk premium to issue 10 year syndicated bond

Spanish economy 29th February 2024

ICO to channel 40,000 million in loans from second part of Next Generation funds

The European funds will be used for the green and digital transition of companies, as well as to facilitate social housing and the audiovisual sector. The mobilisation will be carried out through five funds: ICO-Green (€22,000 million), loans to households, private and public companies for sustainable projects and energy efficiency, among others; ICO-Enterprise (€8,150 million, of which €1,000 million is earmarked for tourism) to strengthen the growth of companies, especially…

In Spain 27th December 2023

Court of Auditors warns of opacity of European funds: “There is no data on what reaches the final recipients”

In its Audit Report on the measures of the Administration on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, sent this week to Las Cortes – and reported by the newspaper El Mundo – the Court of Auditors calls for more transparency: “There are no published data that allow us to have knowledge of the funds that reach the final recipients”, says the Court of Auditors, despite the execution reports…

In Spain 14th December 2023

Spain executes only 18% of €37 billion European funds received

The official data shows that the final execution of the amount received by Spain is very low (18%), that the awarding of projects is decreasing (45% in 2021; only 39% in 2022 and barely 20% on 31 October 2023); and that the vast majority (88%) of the money for the projects (61 of those 100) goes to public institutions (Autonomous Regions, City Councils and public bodies such as Adif, for…

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