Euskadi could receive an additional 400 million euros from European funds

The Basque Government will receive 595 million euros between 2021 and 2023 through the European Recovery and Resilience Mechanism funds (MRR), a provisional estimate, given that the distribution of these resources has not yet been completed, as reported by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Pedro Azpiazu, who has indicated that this sum will be could add another 400 million euros additional.

Azpiazu has appeared this Wednesday before the Committee on the Economy, Finance and Budgets of the Basque Parliament to offer explanations on the deployment of funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain, a program that provides access to European MMR funds.

The counselor explained that of the 35,000 million euros that will be transferred to the autonomous communities, to date 14,733 million euros have been distributed. The Basque Country will receive 595 million euros, of which 359 million will be contributed in 2021, 111 million in 2022 and 71 million in 2023.

The annual distribution of the remaining 54 million euros is unknown, although the distribution will begin in 2022. These funds will be allocated to boost digital skills of citizens (six million euros) and the construction of social rental housing in energy efficient buildings (48 million euros).

Azpiazu explained that in order to estimate the amounts that could correspond to the Basque Country from 2022 onwards, a comparative estimate has been made based on MRR transfers provided for in the General State Budgets (PGE). In this way, it has encrypted this amount at 400 million euros.

With regard to the part that is directly managed by the different ministries of the Government of Spain, the remaining 35 billion euros, 48 ​​calls have been made to date, which means aid close to 4.53 billion euros.

Of this amount, only two allocations are known for the Basque Country: 3.3 million euros for the ESS Bilbao Consortium (for the in-kind contribution to the European spallation neutron source in Lund, Sweden), and € 600,000 to Donosti Film Festival.

Priority projects

In turn, the counselor has reported on the process of defining the three strategic projects that the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, presented to the First Vice President, Nadia Calviño, in response to the request that she made at the end of September to the regional presidents .

These projects, as he recalled, are ‘Basque Mobility’, ‘Ecosystem of Data’ and ‘Basque Advanced Therapies’. Azpiazu has reiterated that these initiatives are aligned with the “triple transition” included in the government program, with the three areas of specialization of the ‘RIS3 Strategy promoted by the European authorities within the framework of the structural funds, and with a “marked transformative character “.

Facing the amounts that could correspond to the Basque Country of the more than 20,000 euros still pending distribution, the Basque Government estimates that it could receive around 400 million, according to Azpiazu.