Brussels approves the payment to the Spanish State of 10 billion euros

The European Commission has approved this Friday the disbursement to the Spanish State of the first tranche of the recovery fund, amounting to 10 billion euros, as announced by the president of the institution, Ursula von der Leyen.

“It will be the first country in the EU to receive a payment, worth 10 000 million, once the other Member States authorize it “, explained the head of the Community Executive in a short message in Spanish on her Twitter profile.

Good news for Spain!

Spain has made sufficient progress in the implementation of its national plan for #NextGenerationEU

Therefore, it will be the first EU country to receive a payment, worth € 10 billion, once the other Member States authorize it. pic.twitter.com/PMVDZf1YbL

– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 3, 2021

Spain has been the first state in the EU to make a formal request to receive the first disbursement and it was able to do so after having signed with the Community Executive the technical document that stipulates how to verify compliance with each commitment.

In this case, the 10 billion tranche will join the advance of 9000 million that the community Executive anticipated in mid-August and that was not subject to conditions.

52 milestones and objectives

Specifically, this first disbursement within Spain’s recovery plan depends on 52 milestones and objectives that the Spanish Government had already met, so the European Commission has been able to complete its analysis in just three weeks, without exhausting the two-month period available.

The first payment depends on reforms included in almost all components of the Spanish Government’s recovery plan. Eight of them are part of the chapter on modernization of the Administration, among them the regulations for reduce temporary employment in the public sector.

The component on the tax reform with measures such as the introduction of the digital tax, the tax on financial transactions or short-term modifications in the corporate tax and indirect taxes.

This first disbursement also includes measures from the chapter on the labour reform, such as the law that regulates teleworking, the regulations to reduce the gender pay gap and the entry into force of the action plan to tackle youth unemployment.

Refering to pension reform, the disbursement of these 10,000 million is conditioned to the separation of the sources of financing of the Social Security, the review of the bonuses of the individual pension plans and the modification of the maternity pension supplement.