European Commission He gave Spain the green light to forget its initial commitments to implement a pay-as-you-go system on its roads. This is one of 52 modifications. Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) was an amendment requested by the Spanish Government from the European Union in the addendum submitted to the European Commission last June. And the European Commission announced this Monday that it has generally approved the Spanish annex and with it the removal of commitments. a system tolls on the highwaysespecially.
In PRTR, the Government had committed to implement the pay-as-you-go system on highways from 2024. This commitment falls with the approval of the reform. It doesn’t delay, it regresses. Although at first the Government justified the introduction of tolls as a measure to obtain funds. financial highway maintenanceThe fact is that this commitment was presented to Brussels within the framework of a reform (a new mobility law) linked to the goal of decarbonising the economy under the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
Railway as an alternative measure
This framework, which was not linked to any economic target in the Recovery Plan but rather an environmental target, allowed the Government to ask Brussels to cancel the fee plan in exchange for alternative measures with an equivalent decarbonisation outcome.
The EC considered that the alternative measures proposed by Spain to reduce gas emissions by encouraging the transport of goods by road were sufficient to meet the green mobility targets that the Spanish Government initially aimed to achieve in the PRTR.
As the Minister of Transport recently announced, among the alternatives suggested by Spain; Rachel SanchezThe possibility of introducing railway joint incentives or subsidy charges for the transport of goods by rail has been raised in order to encourage transport by rail.
“The important thing is that this partial change within the scope of the contract General law on sustainable mobility In this process, which is carried out in accordance with Article 21 of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism regulation, the ambition level of the milestone remains unchanged. The revised milestone contributes to: reducing greenhouse gas emissions from road transport. It also addresses so-called country-specific recommendations demanding Spain to improve its rail freight infrastructure and encourage investments in sustainable transport,” said Veele Nuyts, European Commission Economic Affairs spokesperson.
The fund allocated to Spain increased to 164.3 billion
The European Commission made public this Monday its positive assessment of the Spanish document, which must now be submitted to the European Council. EU Council of Finance Ministers (Ecofin)’s maturity is now maximum 1 month.
Approval of the Annex by the European Commission, other 94.3 billion European funds New Generation EU By 2026, this figure will be added to the approximately 70,000 million figure of the first phase. These will be in total 164.3 billion dayse European funds on transfers and loans between 2021 and 2026.
In particular, the addendum is the document that should serve to withdraw another 7.7 billion euros. additional transfers (total up to 77.2 billion at loss), also 84 billion euro loan Recovery Plan investments involving the private sector or public administrations can be financed at lower interest rates and in a longer term. The government planned to channel this 84,000 million as loans. 12 backgrounds It is aimed at productive sectors and regional projects. The annex also includes the projects to be financed. 2.644 million of the new mechanism Re-strengthen the EU Where the European Union plans to move forward energy autonomy.
Next request for fourth payment
Moreover, the approval of the addendum this Monday leaves the door open to the Spanish Government to make additional requests. Fourth payment of European funds (in return for a further 10,000 million euros) after the European Commission agreed to changes to some of the milestones and targets linked to this fourth tranche requested by the Executive Board of current Pedro Sánchez. The Ministry of Economy has already stated that this fourth payment will be requested “soon”.
The only country that has achieved this so far is Spain. already requested three payments from the account from allocated Next Generation EU funds. In fact, Spain has already received non-refundable transfers from the EU totaling 37,000 million (29,000 million in advance and 28,000 million for the three requested tranches).
The addendum approved by the European Commission not only updates the volume of funds allocated to Europe and increases it to 164.3 billion. investment projects and reforms On transfers and loans in Spain between 2021-2026. Moreover updates the payment plan.
According to the Ministry of Economy, with the new calendar, Spain will be able to 7 next payment and pre-financing of approximately €1.4 billion related to the REPowerEU division. In this sense, it will be able to receive transfers and loans of up to 25.6 billion euros in 2024, 44.6 billion euros in 2025 and 44.3 billion euros in 2026.