Spain becomes the first EU country to apply for the first disbursement of the Recovery Plan

The request for the first disbursement has been made by the General Secretariat for European Funds, under the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Function, as the Responsible Authority for the Plan.

This first disbursement is preceded by the signature and entry into force of the Recovery Plan Operational Arrangements (OA), which establishes the way in which the monitoring of the development of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan will be organised bilaterally between Spain and the European Commission.

The fact that Spain was one of the first countries to present its Recovery Plan, to approve the Operational Arrangements and now to request the first disbursement demonstrates the Government's strong commitment to economic and social recovery. It also reflects the reformist zeal of the Executive, which is based on four pillars: ecological transition, digital transformation, social and territorial cohesion and effective equality between men and women.

Achievement of 52 milestones

This first disbursement of 10 billion euros corresponds to the achievement of 52 milestones, covering the period from February 2020 to June 2021. This is a set of regulatory reforms that will contribute to strengthening the transformative capacity of our economy, including the SME Digitalisation Plan 2021-2025, the Royal Decree on equal pay for men and women and the Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition.

From now, the European Commission has a period of two months to study and verify the documentation submitted by the Government of Spain in order to make the disbursement, in accordance with article 24 of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism Regulation.

A Plan with the highest rating from Brussels

The Recovery Plan designed by the Government of Spain received the highest possible score from the European Commission's technical services in ten of the eleven variables they studied.

With the approval of the Operational Arrangements, Spain fulfils yet another requirement for further progress in the implementation of the largest stimulus package ever funded in Europe and which will involve a total mobilisation of 750 billion euros that will help rebuild Europe post-COVID-19 to make it greener, more digital, more cohesive and more resilient. Of these resources, Spain is due 140 billion euros.

Non official translation