This Sunday, June 9, they celebrate european elections. All Europe faces these elections after a ‘hectic’ legislature, marked by the effective departure of the United Kingdom from the European bloc, the Covid pandemic and the outbreak of migratory, agricultural and commercial tensions. It also has pending work at the international level, with the assistance to Ukraine in his defense against invasion of Russia, the war in Gaza and the preparation of the enlargement towards the Western BalkansUkraine, Moldova and Georgia.

Internally, the community has identified challenges that need to be managed, such as artificial intelligence management and the promotion of the economic and industrial sovereignty of the EU. He has already started with other challenges and has set specific deadlines and goals. That is the case of the energy and ecological transitionmaterialized in a name: the European Green Deal. In this sense, Europe has a clear objective: to become the first climate neutral continent in 2050. By then, the community hopes to have met each of the objectives it set in 2019, the year in which climate neutrality became a legal obligation for the organization.

European Green Deal

Among the points covered by this document are the following measures, which have been materialized in new regulations with their own names and surnames:

  • Improving data collection and sharing for strengthen access to knowledge on the effects of climate change and their exchange.
  • Expand marine and terrestrial areas protected in Europe.
  • Recover ecosystems degraded, reducing the use and harmfulness of pesticides.
  • Increase funding of actions and better monitor progress.
  • Support a sustainable food production.
  • Promote a food consumption and healthy diets more sustainable.
  • Promote the circular economy and improve the functioning of the internal market for batteries, ensuring fairer competition thanks to safety, sustainability and labeling requirements.
  • Provide financial and technical support to the most affected regions for the transition towards a low carbon economy.
  • Support the development and adoption of cleaner energy sourcessuch as marine energy and hydrogen.
  • Encourage the integration of energy systems throughout the EU.
  • Develop interconnected energy infrastructures through energy runners of the EU.
  • Review current legislation on energy efficiency and renewable energies, in particular their targets for 2030.
  • Support a environment without toxic substances.
  • Promote sustainable forest management.
  • Offer financial incentives to owners and forest managers to adopt environmentally friendly practices.
  • Increase the size and biodiversity of forests, particularly through planting 3 billion new trees from now to 2030.

Within this project, companies occupy an important place and are named in several challenges:

  • Invest in new jobs in the ecology sector, in sustainable public transport, in digital connectivity and in clean energy infrastructures.
  • Make the transition to low carbon technology attractive for investment, provide financial support and invest in research and innovation

Next Generation Funds

However, before achieving this goal, European Union will end with another of his projects: the Next Generation funds, endowed with more than 800,000 million euros. This instrument emerged in the middle of the pandemic with the aim of promoting the economic recovery in member states towards “a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.” Modernization is one of its strong points, with a commitment to research, innovation, climate and digital transition, the modernization of traditional policies (such as the CAP), the fight against climate change and the protection of biodiversity and gender equality, as stated on the project website. Within this tool there are two main protagonists:

  • He Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (MRR). It aims to “support investment and reforms in Member States to achieve a sustainable and resilient recovery, while promoting the EU’s green and digital priorities.” It is endowed with 672,500 million euros, of which 360,000 million are allocated to loans and 312,500 million euros will be constituted as non-refundable transfers. In the case of the former, they can be returned until 2059 while the European Union must send the transfers at the end of 2026.
  • He REACT-EU Fund. Its objective is to help the territories strengthen the Welfare State, protect public services and reactivate the economy after the impact of the pandemic caused by COVID-19. It has an allocation of about 12,436 million euros for Spain, 10,000 of them distributed among the Autonomous Communities, 8,000 in 2021 and 2,000 in 2022. The remaining 2,436 million were directed to the management of the Ministry of Health, mainly for the purchase of vaccines.

However, this tool also takes other projects into account;

  • He European Agrarian Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). It seeks to improve the competitiveness of agriculture, promote the sustainable management of natural resources and climate action, as well as achieve balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities.
  • He Just Transition Fund (FTJ) provides support to territories that face serious socioeconomic challenges derived from the transition process to climate neutrality.
  • Europe horizon serves to “strengthen the EU’s scientific and technological base, in particular by developing solutions that respond to policy priorities such as the green and digital transitions.”
  • InvestEUa program that is aimed at boosting investment, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the stimulation of investments in Europe, supporting recovery and helping to build the European economy of the future.

For now, Spain has received a total of 37,000 million euros of the ‘Next Generation EU’ recovery plan. This contribution has been manifested in projects such as the digitalization of local entities in Toledo, the improvement of tourist areas in the Balearic Islands, the protection of the environment in Tenerife, the rehabilitation of homes in Bilbao, the total technological transformation of BiciMAD or the improvement of the EMT in Malaga, among other projects around the Spanish geography.

The distribution of these amounts, as well as the distribution of the community budget, is approved in the European Parliament, where the deputies chosen after the June 9 elections will represent the interests of their citizens for the next five years. This is where the electoral program of each formationwhich includes the initiatives and measures that they intend to promote or reject once they are inside the chamber.