Madrid has been the autonomous community where, until now, the most European funds have arrived or, at least, the successful bidders know that they will receive the aid. This is the conclusion drawn from the presentation of the new tool, designed by the Ministry of Economy under the name “Elisa”, to know in detail the distribution of the Recovery Plan. The capital effect and the concentration of large companies in Madrid influence the distribution of community funds, the Government admits.
Of the more than 34,000 million in calls resolved until February 29, the community of Madrid had received a total of 5,701.37 million, followed by Catalonia, with 4,949.86 million, and Valencia, with 3,753.61 million. In global terms, of the 70,000 million allocated to Spain, the administrations have tendered 61,500 million, 88%. Of them, almost half of the successful bidders already have confirmation of having won the call. “We are halfway through the execution of the Recovery Plan and the data confirms the positive evolution,” the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, defended this Thursday.
In this first phase of distribution of European funds there have been 627,000 successful bidders in Spain, according to information from the platform, of which 38% have been microenterprises and SMEs, and 23% large companies. At the territorial level, in Madrid - with more than 100,000 successful bidders, the leading autonomy - a higher allocation of funds is concentrated to large companies, 37% of the total, well above the average. This is due, as government sources explain, to centralized business distribution.
In Catalonia, for its part, there have been just over 74,000 recipients of European funds, of which 41% are SMEs and 15% are large companies. In the autonomies, the projects financed with the Recovery Plan are concentrated, for the moment, on infrastructure, automobiles and water management. The project that has received the most aid in Catalonia is the IPCEI semiconductor project, with 111 million, followed by aid to Seat (almost 90 million), the reactivation of the Nissan plant (65 million) and the Barcelona supercomputer (50 million ).
The Government stressed that Spain is at the head of the EU in execution, but this Thursday two prominent businessmen highlighted to the Minister of Economy, Body, and Industry, Jordi Hereu, the problems of companies in receiving transfers. The CEO of Santander Spain, Ángel Rivera, stated that “what we hear from businesspeople are more complaints than positive issues,” such as the excessive bureaucracy they face in the calls. The CEO of Iberdrola, Mario Ruiz-Tagle, added that he perceives “anxiety” on the part of companies to be able to receive these resources.
Government sources responded to the two Ibex executives that the Treasury outflows show that the funds are reaching the productive fabric. Minister Corps highlighted the resolution of 1,500 million per month, which implies awarding at “cruising speed.”
