The Government activates 3,400 million European funds for the communities without yet establishing distribution percentages
The Ministry of Economy has activated this Wednesday the first phase of the Autonomous Resilience Fund (FRA), one of the vehicles in which soft loans will be deployed under the recovery plan financed by the European Union. The FRA is equipped with a total of 20 billion in loans in favorable conditions to develop projects within the autonomous communities, although In this first phase, 3.4 billion will be deployed. The idea is that the first operations begin to be formalized before summer arrives.
The minister of the branch, Carlos Body, has met with the economic advisors of the autonomies to inform you how this mechanism will work which is managed jointly with the European Investment Bank (EIB) directed by the former first vice president, Nadia Calviño.
The meeting was held within the framework of the Sector Conference of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, a forum that the Government had not convened for 35 months, which has sparked criticism from the opposition. Gerardo Camps, senator of the PP, reproached the minister for the delay and for having made the call “quickly, late and poorly” during a debate held on Tuesday in the Upper House.
The debate on co-governance
The FRA will mobilize a total of 20,000 million euros in soft loans for regional projects in subjects such as social housing, sustainable transport or industrial and SME competitiveness. And it will unfold, a priori, “depending on market demand and the autonomous communities.” Consequently, “no distribution or ceiling percentages have been established” for each territory, says the Ministry of Economy in a note released this afternoon. The money must be committed to the projects before August 2026, although the loan repayment terms may reach 30 years.
Although the Government has deployed projects financed with European funds throughout the territory, This is the mechanism in which communities should have more decision-making power. Regional governments will form part of the Investment Councils, the body that will decide which projects are approved and under what conditions. “It will be the communities that approve large financing operations, supervise the selection of financial intermediaries and monitor the performance of the fund,” said Body in a press conference after the meeting.
The role of regional governments in the deployment of funds has been highly criticized by regional governments, especially those held by the Popular Party. Last week, the Madrid Minister of Economy, Rocío Albert, denounced that hThere are projects that will be “materially impossible” launch due to the tight deadlines (funds must be committed before August 2026).
“This It makes us think that the funds will have to be allocated to projects that have already been started Because, if not, it would be very difficult to meet the deadlines. If so, the options for accessing this financing will be reduced,” he said in a conversation with journalists echoed by the Europa Press agency.
Two types of instruments
The FRA will be deployed through two funding mechanisms. The largest projects (renewable energy, clean transport or sustainable infrastructure) will be managed through “direct co-financing”. Direct loans will be granted that will be complemented with the European Investment Bank’s own resources.
The smaller projects —such as investments in urban development and sustainable tourism or projects for SMEs— They will be financed through intermediaries. In this case, the EIB will select banks, managers or venture capital funds that will be in charge of providing the money.
