BarcelonaCatalonia received only 7.8% of the Next Generation funds – the extraordinary aid approved by the European Union with the outbreak of the pandemic with the aim of modernizing the economy – managed by the state government in 2021, according to data from the Generalitat.
Catalonia represents 19% of the economy and has 16% of the population of Spain. “The role that the central government is allowing us to play is testimonial,” the Minister of Economy, Jaume Giró, denounced on Monday about the role of the Catalan executive in the management of European funds. Giró assured that the Generalitat has “practically no capacity to decide” either on the programs to be implemented in Catalonia with the money coming from Brussels, or on what should be the “country priorities” where more should be allocated. resources.
Specifically, the Spanish government received 24,198 million euros last year of the approximately 140 billion it deserves in the coming years through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, the European instrument that transfers Next Generation money to member states of the EU. Of these, 9,547 million were transferred to the autonomous communities.
Of the total of these 9,457 million sent to the autonomous communities, about 1,492 million went to the coffers of the Generalitat, 14% of the total, which again places the amount received at a lower level of the weight of Catalonia as a whole. of the State both by population and by gross domestic product (GDP). To this figure must be added 122 million more transferred by the Spanish government to public entities based in Catalonia, for example research centers, such as the Alba synchrotron in Cerdanyola del Vallès.
Per acabar, les convocatòries obertes directament pel govern espanyol van sumar 1.701 milions d’euros, dels quals 291 milions van anar a parar a projectes catalans, un 17% del total. In total, the Generalitat has already executed more than 330 million euros in 14 different actions.
The state “pulls for the right”
“The state government decided to pull the law, regardless of the work we had done,” added the minister, who considers that the management of the funds is delayed both in terms of the publication of calls and in the resource allocation. Giró has stated that the Generalitat will not be left “arms folded” observing “how from Madrid they decide” what is appropriate in Catalonia.
Meanwhile, he indicated that the Catalan government must “propose solutions” and present “concrete proposals” on where the European money that will arrive in Spain in the coming years should go, especially in 2022 and 2023, the years in which it will be they will produce more transfers according to the estimates of the Ministry of Economy. The Generalitat has asked the State to receive 2,089 million euros for three strategic axes, infrastructure, technology and environment, which would involve a total investment, if we add the participation of the private sector, of about 5,200 millions. Among these projects are solutions to mobility, the creation of a hub audiovisual, improving the sustainable supply of water, the creation of a nanosatellite and quantum computer industry, investments in personalized medicine or the environmental management of manure, among others.
A més, el departament d’Economia ha posat en marxa una pàgina web per ajudar les empreses interessades a trobar més informació sobre les ajudes del Next Generation, que inclou un cercador de convocatòries tant de les administracions locals i catalanes com del govern espanyol.