The Government managed to eliminate from the addendum to the Recovery Plan the obligation to implement new tolls on the roads, arguing, before the European Commission, that inflation continues to have a "very profound" negative effect on transport costs and, therefore, the decision would mean a penalty for an essential sector for the Spanish economy, and also a very belligerent one. The commitment was black on white and the Executive negotiators acknowledge that they did not have it easy, but they achieved it two weeks ago, as La Vanguardia reported, appealing to a “radical change” in the price of energy and raw materials caused by , essentially, because of the war in Ukraine.
The transporters put the Government in check in 2022 due to the increase in costs. For this reason, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and La Moncloa, the main negotiators with Brussels for European funds, made an effort to try not to add a new burden, with tolls, to a sector that the Executive continues to subsidize.
The tug of war was also influenced, although to a lesser extent, by the future CO₂ payment model that transportation will have to pay for. Both measures, these sources explain, could have overlapped.
In exchange for eliminating the toll plan, Spain has committed to promoting rail transport, which will benefit the Mediterranean Corridor. These developments will be included in the Sustainable Mobility Law, a law that began to be processed in Congress but was stranded due to the early calling of elections. The Commission now agrees to delay until the end of 2024 the maximum period for the entry into force of this law.
The positive assessment, by the EU, of the European funds addendum puts an end to an “intense negotiation” between Spain and Brussels that has lasted for more than a year. The Government aspires to be able to spend the 93.5 billion between transfers and loans beyond 2026. It is another novelty. To this end, the Commission has accepted a formula that consists of when public business agencies manage investments, an extension can be accepted. Enisa, National Innovation Company, will be one of these agencies. The negotiators assumed that this could be the case for some Perte, such as hydrogen or chip, which are complex to execute and, therefore, their project completion deadline could be extended.
There have also been changes in the financing lines to which the 83.5 billion in loans will be allocated. Specifically, Spain and Brussels have agreed to expand by 6.5 billion, up to 39,500, the loans that will be managed by the Official Credit Institute (ICO) in collaboration with private banks.
In an environment of rising financing costs, companies will have access to 30-year financing lines with a grace period of 10 at the same cost that the European Commission has to face in the debt markets. Taking current prices into account, Spain will have an advantage of about 25 basis points when it comes to financing projects. The credits will count as debt, although the Economy does not show concern about the new fiscal rules.
The special financing for the Minimum Living Income and the new ERTE (the so-called RED Mechanism) also disappears from the addendum. For its part, the Government plans to request “soon” the fourth tranches of the funds, 10,000 million. He will do it even if he is still in office.
