The Government had to approve. Among them were the family law, the social services law, changes in tax benefits, the industry law, a package of reforms in the field of health and medicines, legislation to reorganize public subsidies around the minimum income and the law of organizational efficiency in justice. However, the European Commission has given it a little more time. It has accepted delays in some of them, such as some investments in Cercanías, renewable energies, coastal maintenance, R&D and cybersecurity. And it also demands that, in return, it raises diesel taxes, including it as a new requirement linked to European funds.
According to the document to which EL PAÍS has had access, in which some modifications to the Spanish recovery plan are formulated, the European Commission has included the increase in the diesel tax as a commitment related to the fifth payment, exactly the one that the Government is going to request imminently asking for nearly 8,000 million in direct aid and about 16,000 million corresponding to two additional tranches of loans. In total, a figure greater than 20,000 million. If the increase in diesel taxation is not approved before March, the European Union would have to retain a portion of these resources.
These European funds are delivered as reform and investment objectives are met. Milestone 388 refers to the tax reform that should have been approved at the beginning of 2023 following the recommendations of the expert committee. . But . Now the text of this commitment is modified and says: “It will include, among others, the entry into force of the increase in the diesel tax.” That is, it has been added as a necessary objective to collect part of the European funds. The Government had already tried to introduce this measure in its tax package launched more than a month ago to try to comply with this tax reform commitment. But Podemos’s resistance caused it to be discarded. This initiative meant that each liter refueled became more expensive by just over 11 cents. So filling an average tank of about 50 liters would mean paying almost six euros more for a full refueling.
The idea is that a fuel is being penalized for its pollution. But in the negotiations, Podemos considered it regressive because there are more low-income families whose vehicles run on diesel. . Processing it in a fragmented Parliament will be complicated. But now the Government also has pressure from Brussels. If it is not approved before the end of March, the Commission would freeze a part of the funds from the fifth disbursement because the tax reform commitment has not been fully met.
The European Commission. But in this way it is even more ensured that the Spanish Executive adopts this tax increase. There are about 1,500 million euros in revenue, around one tenth of the GDP.
The fifth payment, which includes this new commitment to diesel, now amounts after the changes to around 9,000 million in direct subsidies compared to the 7,000 million that had been contemplated before. Although these figures must be subtracted from the advance payment of 13% of the funds that was made at the beginning of the plan. So the fifth payment of non-refundable aid will remain at around 8,000 million. And withholding would be applied to that amount in the event that the new diesel taxation was not approved.
The European funds known as Next Generation were approved to alleviate the economic effects of the pandemic. Spain received about 140,000 million, of which half was direct aid and the other half loans. The Government has already received some 48,000 million in subsidies, to which would be added nearly 8,000 million from the fifth payment.
The Spanish Executive has agreed with the Commission that the commitment of a social services law will be changed by agreements in the territorial council of social services that will be followed later by ministerial regulation. Family law is delayed from the fifth to the seventh payment. And the changes in tax benefits are moved from the fifth to the eighth disbursement. For example, the sustainable mobility law had already been moved to the seventh section. An initiative for SMEs to enter green hydrogen projects is also deleted and replaced with another green hydrogen initiative that does not require the participation of small companies. Projects related to green hydrogen are generally delayed. These accumulate quite a delay because they had been stopped waiting for permits from Brussels for state aid.
In any case, everything should be ready before mid-2026. If they have not been spent by then, funds could be lost because the plan ends. Time is pressing. This is the third time it has been modified. And there will be a fourth soon in order to include the reallocation of European funds towards the territories affected by the Dana floods.
