The Autonomous Communities are hurrying to the limit the deadlines with which they have to decide whether to reschedule part of their European funds and thus allocate them to the reconstruction of Valencia after the devastation it caused. In December of last year, when the damage of the natural catastrophe were already counted by billions, the central government invited autonomies to give up part of its European resources without executing with the objective of redirecting them towards Valencia and thus accelerating the reconstruction of the affected regions. It was done by the Chief of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, where he proposed a redesign of the FEDER Funds (European Regional Development Fund) that should be completed before March 31. On February 26, the first and head of the Treasury, María Jesús Montero, sent a letter to all autonomies reminding them that there was that possibility. However, today no territory has rescheduled, although several have opened to study the possibility.
Some territories ask to know more details of the possible redesign and a few progress that their FEDER will not reallocate, although several open to use other European financing lines to pay for reconstruction. According to farm calculations, if all communities allocated 2% of the regional development funds – which is the percentage requested by the Generalitat itself by suggesting this formula -, 210 million euros would be exceeded in resources.
– among other financing lines that the EU has, “aimed at reducing economic, social and territorial inequalities between the regions.” They are distributed among the autonomies depending on their GDP per capita, so that those with a wealth per inhabitant below 75% of the EU average (in Spain are Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Ceuta, Extremadura and Melilla) receive more resources than those that are richer. For the 2021-2027 period, Spain has assigned about 23,500 million euros through the FEDERS to distribute in projects and areas such as infrastructure or investment in digital and ecological transition. “Normally, the absorption of these structural funds is around 75%,” explains Alfredo Suaz, a collaborator at the Center for Financial Studies (CEF) and the State Auditor. However, he adds, “the objective of all territories is to always execute the whole, since, in addition, they usually have a period of grace for it if they have not had the necessary time.” The figures of the European Commission confirm the slowness in the execution. The autonomous communities have spent less than 70% of the cohesion funds assigned for the 2014-2020 period, but that money is entirely assigned to projects.
According to government sources, Andalusia, Extremadura, Navarra and Melilla have not answered for now to the first letter of the Treasury. For their part, Madrid, Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Castilla y León, the Canary Islands and Ceuta have shown their willingness to reprogram, but remember that they must analyze terms and amounts before deciding anything definitive. Galicia, La Rioja, Cantabria and Murcia-in addition to the Valencian Community-open to do so, but ask to know Aragon has requested to expand the deadline to respond, while they refuse to reformulate, always according to these sources, Castilla-La Mancha, Basque Country and Asturias-this last ensures that it will participate in the reconstruction through the reallocation of other items.
This same week, Vice President Montero has sent a new letter to the communities that have not rejected reprogram to urge them to contact the General Secretariat of European Funds – in charge of managing these funds – and thus seeking possible formulas in the event that the restructuring is carried out. The reason is that the line created by the Government to finance with European funds the reconstruction after the DANA will not have new resources, but will be nourished by reallocated budgetary endowments. And as Brussels should have the approval, the readjustment must be done as soon as possible.
From the Ministry of Finance of Castilla y León, they assure that the community will join the call for the Treasury and allocate part of its European funds to the reconstruction of the localities affected by the floods, and that they are waiting for the technical details of the Ministry. In Madrid, for their part, they are valuing how to contribute to reconstruction with the resources that are not compromised.
Other funds
Some autonomies, however, do not agree with the Treasury approaches. “It does not seem reasonable that the less developed autonomous communities, according to the EU classification, contribute to some actions that we consider that they are the competence of the State,” explain sources from the Castellanomanchego government, which remember that their region is also “in full process of reconstruction and recovery” of areas affected by the DANA. From Aragon, since the Feders are “committed”, they ask to allocate the Reconstruction Plan of the Plan Plan Generenion of difficult execution.
A similar position is that of Asturias, which ensures that it is managing the reprogramming by pulling the aid of the recovery plan that has been left without executing. The Ministry of Science, Companies, Training and Autonomous Employment explains that it will participate in the Solidarity Fund that will enable the Ministry for Digital Transformation for Reconstruction after the DANA reallocating the money of three lines that it launched, for a total of 4.1 million euros, and that they almost had no requests.
Galicia, on the other hand, moves that 100% of the operations linked to the Feders are already compromised, so it would need to seek additional financing. At the same time, the department of María Jesús Montero has urged to provide more information about the reprogramming requested due to solidarity with the area affected by the DANA and the European aid that the central government intends to reprogram for the reconstruction of these areas.
The request for information from the Xunta is accompanied by several complaints. On the one hand, he laments “and the cost of its repair, of the resources already mobilized or of those requested to the EU solidarity fund.” On the other, he affirms that he is willing to collaborate through the funds of the recovery plan that he has not been able to execute because of the central government “due to a centralized design of the same.” He estimates that this “lack of flexibility” has prevented him from carrying out projects for about 35 million allocated to create public spaces for children up to three years and digital connectivity programs.
