European funds represent a meaningful share of Spain’s economic activity, with calculations from EsadeEcPol estimating about €4.2 billion of subsidy calls within a total of €28.5 billion. This reflects the portion of funds that impact the real economy rather than remaining in administrative channels.
As of November 15, data shows that €9.3 billion of the €28.5 billion sought has been rewarded, but only a portion appears to have reached the productive sectors, since many payments still circulate through public administrations rather than arriving at end recipients, save for universities that are direct beneficiaries.
Esade Center for Economic Policy has developed a tool to extract data from all European fund grant calls, and its findings indicate that in 2022 the flow of calls issued through 2021 has doubled, signaling stronger activity in the subsidy space.
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At present, Spain has executed more than 90 percent of its 31,000 million euro allocation. It expects to receive the third tranche of 6,000 million euros requested previously from the European stabilisation mechanism.
Again, most funds already allocated have not yet been absorbed by the broader economy, largely because many calls involve transfers between levels of government rather than direct payments to businesses or households.
Of the total, 10,600 million are resources mobilized mainly from the General State Administration to autonomous communities and local authorities; 18,000 million are directed to the economic and social fabric; roughly a quarter, about 4.2 billion, has already reached final beneficiaries.
Manuel Hidalgo, co-director of EsadeEcPol and author of the report, noted in a statement to EFE a notable rise in fund applications through subsidy calls in 2022, particularly in the first half of the year.
Just over a third of subsidy calls reached small and medium sized enterprises and individual economic activities, totaling around 10,000 million, while large companies accessed about 11 percent, or 3,300 million, as recipients.
Hidalgo suggests that by 2026 there will be sufficient time to distribute all funds, while grace periods to complete execution are common in these programs.
Another consideration is whether calls will close, since some subsidies may be left unused, and a lack of competition led to awards totaling 877 million in a subset of programs, such as the 2.95 billion PERTE for electric vehicles.
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The electric vehicle initiative emerged as the largest call issued by the General State Administration and accounts for 80.2 percent of the total 28.5 billion euros. Autonomous communities and local units implemented around 5.2 billion, while universities awarded about 430 million in funding.
In regional terms, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism is the leading department in allocation, followed by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Ministry of Economy, with a combined allocation of around 7,130 million and goals focused on green transition, digitization, job creation, and strengthening the production base.
Regionally, Catalonia leads in implementation with roughly 1,128 million, followed by Andalusia with 713 million, the Valencian Community with 654 million, and Madrid with 538 million.
Within energy assistance programs, agencies like the Catalan Energy Institute and the Madrid Community Energy Foundation show substantial activity, along with the Valencian Community Planning Secretariat and the Andalusian Employment Service contributing tens of millions each to the effort.