HE European Investment Bank (EIB) has already completed the technical work that will enable its rollout. The first tranche of the 3,600 million loan was offered to autonomous communities It is responsible for the Autonomous Resilience Fund foreseen in the annex of the Spanish Recovery Plan, which allocated up to 20,000 million euros from European Next Generation EU funds to finance sustainable investment projects of regional governments.
EIB president Nadia Calviño (former first vice-president of the Spanish Government until January 1) announced this Thursday in Madrid that the implementation of this first tranche of autonomies is pending the completion of technical procedures with the Spanish Government. Together with the European Commission, he underlined that: The importance of immediate approval of new State Budgets for 2024.
“The approval of budgets is important as they are a tool for channeling all European funds,” Calviño said at a press conference in Madrid, where he introduced the 2023 activities of the European Investment Bank group in Spain. Thus, the EIB’s president responded to the question of whether a greater delay in approving the new public accounts for 2024 would delay the launch of the Autonomous Resilience Fund.
“We are working In close cooperation with the European Commission and the Spanish Government “So that there is no delay,” he insisted, referring to the Executive to indicate “how they will explain the execution from a national perspective.”
As EIB, “We have already started all the procedures to be able to put this into operation.” [el primer tramo del Fondo de Resiliencia Autonómico] “So that it can be implemented as soon as possible, that is, in 2024,” he said. Pending work on the Spanish side includes “clearly articulating a set of agreements and processes so that they can be started as soon as possible”; The Spanish Government must, among other things, define the management mechanism of this fund in which the autonomous communities will have to participate. “We will support the governance or co-management decided by national authorities in the EIB,” Calviño said.
Investments that can be financed by the regional fund, as foreseen in the annex of the Spanish Recovery Plan, social and affordable housing and urban regeneration sectors; sustainable transportation; industrial and SME competitiveness; Research innovation development; sustainable tourism; care economics, water and waste management and energy transition.
EIB activity in Spain
The president of the EIB expressed his satisfaction with the activities of this European multilateral bank in Spain in 2023, when it financed projects worth a total of $ 200 million. 11.4 billion euros, 14% more than the previous year.
“For the EIB, Spain is a reference point for success. Not only because of the volume and because it is one of the three main recipients of investment, but also because of the content of the projects financed, Calviño emphasized, referring to the ecological transition.
More than half of the EIB’s financing for Spain in 2023 corresponded to: Climate action and environmental sustainability23% more at 6.7 billion. The EIB has invested more than $21 billion in green finance in Spain over the last five years.
“Six out of every ten euros from the EIB in Spain in 2023 will contribute to the green transition, above all to the deployment of renewable energies,” said the former deputy head of the Spanish Government. “The EIB is a key partner in the deployment of renewable energy sources in Spain, the country leading these investments in Europe,” he added. Within the scope of this section, renewable energy production investments (more than 2,500 million), energy efficiency in buildings and modernization of electrical networks.
Projects financed by the EIB in 2023 include a 150 million euro loan to Cepsa for the deployment of ultra-fast electric chargers at service stations; 74 million to support El Corte Inglés’ energy efficiency plan; A. Guarantees, securitizations and loans with SantanderBBVA, Sabadell, Bankinter, ICO, Catalan Financial Institute or Cajamar for access to EIB financing for SMEs; 1,000 million loan to Iberdrola for the construction of 22 renewable facilities in Spain, Portugal and Germany; Another 1.7 billion goes to Solaria for 120 photovoltaic plants in Spain, Italy and Portugal; 400 million for the installation of Repsol wind farms and photovoltaic facilities; 200 million dollars from Endesa for the development of solar or wind energy or 700 million for the modernization of Naturgy’s electricity distribution network, among other major projects.
The EIB Group, which includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), has awarded financing contracts totaling €88 billion, distributed to more than nine hundred projects across Europe in 2023. These commitments are expected to lead to action on: 320 billion euro investmentIt supports 400,000 businesses and 5.4 million jobs.