The term to absorb the funds ends on December 31 of this year
MADRID, 29 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spain has not yet executed 32,378 million euros of the 75,067 million that corresponded to it from the Structural and Investment Funds belonging to the 2014-2020 period, according to an analysis by Finnova.
The Belgian Hispanic Foundation points out that this means that this budget item does not yet have a project or is within a project that is not being carried out. So far Spain has only been able to materialize the investment of 57% of these funds.
Public data from the General Directorate for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission as of August 25, collected by Finnova, place Spain as the country with the worst rate of absorption of funds in the entire European Union.
On the other side of the scale is Portugal, which with 93% is the country that has executed the most European funds. In addition, the Portuguese country has earmarked an extra 10,780 million euros for various projects.
Finnova warns that the seriousness of the data does not reside only in the amount or the percentage, but in the fact that the term to absorb the funds ends on December 31 of this year.
And despite the fact that the structural funds have a rule (rule 3) that allows declaring expenses related to projects up to three years after the period, the State has only five months to reverse the situation.
Finnova’s general director, Juanma Revuelta, points to several factors that explain the low absorption of funds, pointing out the lack of political focus on this issue. In this line, Revuelta affirms that there has been a lack of prioritization at the government level at all levels, a fact that explains the low rate of absorption of funds.
Another of the reasons that Revuelta highlights is the scarcity of programs to train public managers and civil servants in these areas, a fact that makes it difficult to process aid.
The foundation based in Brussels and Spain indicates that, taking into account the sum of the money granted through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), La Rioja is the Autonomous Community that has executed the most budget, reaching 80.02%.
He adds that, in addition, the Community of La Rioja is the only one that exceeds the 75% absorption that the 27 register on average. Asturias and Galicia are close to the European average, with absorption rates that exceed 70%. In the tail wagon of the statistics are Catalonia, Madrid and the Valencian Community, with rates that do not reach 50%.
Due to the type of funds analyzed, Finnova points out that the best performance is found in the EAFRD, with an execution rate of 66%. In other words, of the 16,355 million euros granted to Spain, 10,767 million have been executed. The Basque Country, with 79% of funds absorbed, is the Community with the best absorption rate, followed by La Rioja and the Balearic Islands.
On the opposite side, the Canary Islands, Andalusia, Extremadura and Asturias accumulate the worst data. The foundation highlights that there are eight communities (Andalusia, Navarra, the Valencian Community, Catalonia, Extremadura, Castilla La Mancha, Aragon and Asturias) that have not allocated the entire budget.
Andalusia is the one with the highest percentage of unallocated money: 31%, 1,041 million that have not been located.
Regarding the Feder, it is the largest fund that the State received from the Structural and Investment Funds, adding a budget item that reaches 38,061 million euros, although only 20,537 million, 54%, have been executed.
Within the data related to the Feder, collected by Finnova, are the two best absorption rates of the three funds analyzed: Asturias, with 98% execution, and La Rioja, with 92%, register these percentages.
On the other side, are the Community of Madrid (27%), Catalonia (31%), Navarra (40%) and the Valencian Community (42%) as the territories with the worst data.
The foundation also points out that there are four autonomous communities that have not allocated the entire budget (Madrid, Navarra, Castilla y León, the Balearic Islands and Murcia). The Madrid community is the one with the highest percentage not assigned, 26% which, in absolute terms, translates into 314 million euros.
Finally, Finnova indicates that the ESF data is the most concise: only 8,082 million of the 16,226 granted to Spain have been executed, close to 50% absorption.
Andalusia stands out as the community with the best absorption rate, with 77%, followed by Galicia (68%) and Extremadura (67%). On the contrary, Catalonia (28%), the Canary Islands (29%) and the Valencian Community (32%) do not reach a third of the executed budget.
Also that there are six territories that have not allocated the entire budget granted: Navarra, the Canary Islands, Ceuta, the Valencian Community, Murcia and the Balearic Islands.
The Foral Community registers the highest percentage in this aspect, 52% of non-destined funds (40 million euros), although in absolute terms, the communities that have the most money to allocate are the Canary Islands and the Valencian Community, reaching the figure to 175 million euros in both cases. STRUCTURAL FUNDS AND NEXT GENERATION EU FUNDS
Finnova also points out that regional governments will have to manage the money to be used from the European structural funds corresponding to the period 2014-2020 and that corresponding to the period 2021-2027, added to the projects approved through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism ( MRR).
The MRR is the main tool of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) funds, the temporary recovery instrument to support the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, and constitutes around 90% of the total NGEU budget.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility awards grants and loans to support reforms and investments in EU Member States for a total value of €723.8 billion. In order to receive funds under the MRR, Member States must develop recovery and resilience plans.
