The European Executive gives its positive assessment to the disbursement of 12,000 million euros to the country, which must be evaluated by a committee
The European Commission has given this Monday its preliminary positive assessment of the second payment of the recovery funds to Spain. On April 30, the country made the request for the second disbursement of Next Generation funds, based on the fulfillment of 40 milestones and objectives implemented during the second half of 2021. Among these achievements are reforms in areas such as the green transition, the labor market, pensions and digitization, among others.
The Community Executive has sent its approval to the Economic and Financial Committee, which will have a maximum of four weeks to give its opinion on the matter. The European Commission will then make its final decision, based on the position of the Committee, and the disbursement of the 12,000 million euros will take place.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has pointed out that “Spain has made sufficient progress in the execution of its national recovery plan to receive a second payment from Next Generation EU.” She considers that the country “maintains a continuous pace of reforms” in “key political areas”, such as the labor market and the sustainability of public finances. For this reason, “once the Member States” give the green light, Spain will receive this second payment.
The Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, has highlighted that the second payment is subject to “transformative reforms” agreed with the social partners. They highlight the modifications in the labor market, “to lead to greater job stability” and also the first part of the pension reforms, “which will support the purchasing power of pensioners and at the same time adapt the effective and legal retirement age ».
The EU has already delivered 9,036 million euros of pre-financing to Spain, in addition to another 10,000 million of the first payment of recovery aid, to which this second payment will be added.
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