The Government runs the risk of losing at least some 5,000 million of the structural and cohesion funds due to the slowness with which it is processing them, according to sources from the European Commission consulted by this newspaper.

The problem is that Spain is "particularly" slow in presenting a proposal for an association agreement for the funds for the period 2021-2027 and in the programs that it wants to be financed. According to the sources consulted, the alarms have been turned on when learning that the calendar of the Ministry of Finance is "the end of the third quarter of 2022" for the presentation of projects for these funds. This was revealed, as reported by this newspaper last Monday, the director general of regional and urban policy of the European Commission, Marc Lemaître, who considered this pace "very regrettable".

In the European Commission they point out that presenting projects at the end of September 2022 when they are eligible from January 2021 is not only a slower pace than other member states, but also leaves Lemaître's team without time to evaluate them and give their approval before end of next year. And, according to the community regulation, if these projects are not approved before January 2023,

"Spain would lose an annuity," they

emphasize. That implies about 5,000 million out of the total of 36,245 million planned for Spain. These are structural funds such as the Feder or the European Social Fund conventional and which are different from the new ones created by the pandemic called Next Generation.

Indeed, according to article 23 of regulation 1060, the Commission cannot approve programs without an evaluation in which it will “take into account, in particular, the relevant country-specific recommendations, the relevant challenges identified in the integrated national energy plan. and climate and the principles established in the European Pillar of Social Rights, as well as the way in which they are addressed ”. "

The Commission shall take a decision by means of an implementing act approving the program within a period of five months

from the date of the first presentation of the program by the Member State."

With the pace of Montero's team, approval would not arrive until February 2023 and the regulation only allows prorating for non-presentation in the first year, but not in the second, hence the risk of loss of the 2022 annuity.

Lemaître showed understanding in his appearance in the European Parliament on the 15th that many states are giving priority to Next Generation funds, delaying the processing of structural and cohesion funds, but presented the Spanish Government's calendar as an excess. Presenting projects so late in the second year of the period leaves little room for Brussels for the various directorates-general of the Commission, including that of the environment, to decide whether they are plans that deserve Community funding.

"What is not going to happen is to approve plans presented at the last minute without evaluation time,"

highlight the community sources consulted.

The Ministry of Finance does not comment on Lemaître's harsh statements, but they do not see the funds in danger and they assure that the process with Brussels is already under negotiation, but they point out that it is a complex procedure in which the autonomous communities are involved. In fact, on October 1, the Treasury announced that it will distribute the bulk of these funds to the autonomous communities. In total, «the regional distribution is 34,693 million euros allocated to Spain for the Growth and Employment Objective of the ERDF and the European Social Fund Plus. This amount represents an increase of 13.2% in relation to the 2014-2020 period ”.In the European Commission they assure that they have requested agility from the Ministry of Finance, which is their interlocutor in the funds and that they modify their calendar so that they advance in parallel with the association agreement and the presentation of projects.

If the Treasury rectifies it, there is still time not to lose a penny of the funds, but it is already offering a bad image. What would be a disaster is to lose an annuity after the battle waged by the Prime Minister,

Pedro Sánchez

, in 2020 for the EU not only to create a new instrument to combat the crisis, but to increase the endowment of these traditional funds. The PP MEP,

Isabel Benjumea

, has already registered an official question to the European Commission itself and the party's own president echoed on

Twitter

this Tuesday

.

Pablo Casado

pointed out: "

The Spanish Government cannot do two things at the same time

: Brussels advises that Sánchez is risking 37,000 million."

Casado accompanies his tweet with the statements of the Lemaître in which he criticized that the Government "cannot do two things at the same time", alluding to the imbalance between his career for the Next Generation and his neglect of the structural ones.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Spain

  • European Comission

  • Pablo Casado

  • Twitter

  • PP

  • Pedro Sanchez

  • European Parliament

  • Madrid

  • Segovia

The Panel 75% of PP voters believe that Pablo Casado will be the next Prime Minister

PoliticsEgea tries to stage the end of the crisis with Ayuso by ensuring that she "accepts" that the congress is in the first semester of 2022

Labor reform Garamendi: "The problem in the labor reform is the proposals of two ministers, not if the employers have the right of veto"

See links of interest

  • La Palma volcano

  • Last News

  • 2022 business calendar

  • Home THE WORLD TODAY

  • Holidays 2021

  • Podcast Economia

  • How to do

  • Dynamo Kyiv - FC Bayern München

  • Villarreal - Manchester United

  • Barcelona - Benfica

  • Chelsea - Juventus

  • Lille - FC Red Bull Salzburg