The EU will contribute €23.4 billion to Spain’s ERDF programmes, which will be implemented through one national thematic programme and 19 regional programmes – one per autonomous region or city.
Research, digitisation and support to SMEs
Spain allocated €8.5 billion to finance measures to boost growth, competitiveness and productivity of small and medium-sized businesses via investments that promote research and innovation. It will include support to digitisation and digital connectivity in the public sector to provide more agile services to citizens and companies, and to help companies grow their business.
Green economy and sustainable mobility
More than €9 billion will be invested in the regions’ green transition towards a resource-efficient, climate-neutral, and competitive economy. From this amount, €3.3 billion will help Spain achieve its target to produce 74% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
Nearly €1.8 billion will be used to finance energy efficiency measures in public, commercial and residential buildings. At the same time the ERDF will invest €1.4 billion in improving water management systems. The ERDF will also contribute to:
- the prevention of natural disasters
- disaster resilience against events such as floods, fires and drought
- the protection of nature and biodiversity
The Spanish national and regional programmes will invest €2 billion to:
- make mobility in cities multimodal, cleaner and more sustainable
- develop TEN-T networks and their connections to regional and local axes
Education, social inclusion and access to healthcare
Spanish programmes have planned €1.1 billion to ensure equal access to healthcare and fostering resilience of health systems, by improving infrastructure and equipments in all levels of healthcare. The ERDF will also dedicate €700 million in support to:
- equal access and quality services in education
- socioeconomic inclusion
- enhancing the role of culture
- sustainable tourism
Territorial integrated development
Through national and some regional programmes, Spain will invest €2 billion in supporting integrated strategies for sustainable urban development through grants and financial instruments, covering different models of urban development that represent Spanish urban diversity. Furthermore, it will support integrated local development strategies to fight depopulation and address demographic challenges in rural areas.
The end of February and March 2023 saw the commencement of launch events and the convening of monitoring committees of the regional programmes. The kick-off meetings of the national programme will take place later. The monitoring committee is the main body responsible for monitoring and reviewing the implementation of the programmes and progress towards achieving its objectives. It brings together representatives from the competent Member State authorities and the relevant stakeholders in accordance with the partnership principle (ie. representatives of civil society, socio-economonic partners, etc.). The Commission participates as an advisor.
Source: EC
