Reforms and more authority
Spain’s large industrial community warns that bureaucratic logjams within Public Administrations are scaring away big investments from multinational firms. The Alliance for the Competitiveness of Spanish Industry—a coalition of leaders from key sectors—says delays in permits and authorizations leave Spanish companies at a disadvantage compared with rivals in other markets, risking future closures and relocations.
Leaders emphasize that the slowness in handling permits undermines the ability to attract investment, a point echoed by Carlos Reinoso, spokesman for the alliance that unites U.S.-based employers across automotive, oil, paper, steel, food, cement, and mineral raw materials sectors. He noted that firms seeking to invest in digitalization and decarbonization must not confront bureaucratic confusion that throttles their plans. The result is a quiet erosion of competitiveness and a looming threat to future growth and relocation.
The Alliance, together with KPMG, advocates administrative optimization under the project titled “Optimization of administrative processes by supporting the industrial sector.” They highlight warnings about delays, especially in environmental and urban matters, which inflate legal timelines and can stretch approval waits to as long as two years. The dispersion of rules across autonomous communities and the lag in digitizing processes compound Spain’s competitive disadvantage relative to other nations.
According to Aniceto Zaragoza, general manager of the cement sector’s representative group, the duration of procedures equals a core competitive factor alongside energy and labor costs. He points out that large groups may simply choose to relocate investments elsewhere rather than staying in Spain when faced with chronic bottlenecks. Administrative delays threaten not only current projects but also broader plans to modernize and expand industrial capacity within the country.
The industry association also warns that bureaucratic delays add risk when public authorities must administer a suite of extra steps to manage substantial European funding from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Facility. The added complexity could slow deployment of these funds and diminish their impact on domestic industry.
Reforms and more authority
To tackle the administrative collapse, the Alliance proposes reforms that include shortening mandatory resolution times and widening the use of silent-approval rules so a procedure is considered approved if there is no official reply. They also push for accelerated digitization, streamlined procedures through a responsible-company declaration to advance processes, and greater legal certainty for authorities to minimize delays and avoid procedural stoppages caused by complaints.
In tandem, industry groups seek to expand the public workforce to remove bottlenecks. Reinoso remarks that today there is more regulation and more required steps even as resources remain stretched. He urges moving away from the mindset that fewer officers are always better and advocates for a practical expansion of staff to keep pace with growing administrative demands.