“Excessive bureaucracy”, a burden for EU funds to reach SMEs

With the progress of La Nueva España, the state is allocating part of the funds allocated in Asturias (218 million out of the 566 allocated to the region) to major infrastructure projects planned for years. The contracts it’s already bidding on make up more than half of the money sent from central government and are mostly left to large business groups: The FCC manages a joint venture that issues 25 million bills. and Ferrovial, for example, stayed with five others. Major projects are the lead figures of some European funds which initially propose as one of their levers the reactivation of SMEs, which make up about 99% of the business fabric in Asturias.

Principality President Adrián Barbón celebrated with a public action this Thursday. Asturias It is the second autonomous community with the best percentage of implementation in terms of European funds.. He claims that 137 million of the 350 million euros that the regional administration claims to have received from Brussels are in execution.

The database of government subsidies contains twenty open calls by regional government subsidiaries., but the money has not yet reached most of the beneficiaries. The University of Oviedo has awarded one of its first grants for requalification. And according to the data of the aforementioned portal, only the first of the 84 benefit calls of the Ministry of Industry’s ‘Plan Moves’ distributed and certified. Some targeted individuals and SMEs, but Iberdrola received up to eight times the sustainable mobility aid as Asturya through different companies and Endesa five times more.

President of the Avilés Chamber of Commerce, Luis Nogueranotes “A general delay in the implementation of Next Generation funds and a particular difficulty in reaching SMEs are perceived”. The “excessive bureaucracy” required by Brussels aid warns businessmen, discourages many companies from seeking it, and control requirements imposed by the administration, small companies do not have the staff to request and manage aid, and invalidate the subsidy’s profitability. payroll has to turn to outside professionals who “eat” the benefit of it. Therefore, SMEs face “special challenges”.

That’s why the Chambers of Commerce reach out to the Executive again to cooperate in the distribution of community benefits, and to businessmen to accompany them in the necessary procedures to request assistance. On the other hand, Paniceres, who wants the Just Transition funds, another European money channel, which he assured that they did not land in Asturias, argues, “We have been managing European funds for fourteen years.”

President of the Gijón Chamber, felix baraganorepeat that SMEs ‘have major difficulties’ in accessing help. Gijón’s video presence is demanding management to facilitate procedures. In most cases, small businessmen don’t even know where to get help, Baragaño says. The European line of funds that has proven successful among small businesses is the Digital Kit, which has much simpler procedures than other Transformation Plan grants.

State employers are already demanding that the Government imitate countries such as France or Germany, where the process of obtaining funds is much more agile.