The post-pandemic economic recovery has high hopes Next Generation EU phons, a recovery plan for the European Union that has a total budget of 672.5 billion euros, of which 140 billion will go to Spain. A conference, organized by Diari de Girona with the sponsorship of Banco Sabadell, analyzed yesterday how companies can access these European funds. The session was attended by a wide range of experts: Xavier Elizondo, Manager of the Next Generation Office at ACCIÓ; Mireia Lafoz, Director of European Funds and Sustainability of the Territorial Bank of Sabadell in Catalonia; David Martí, president of Aenteg and member of the FOEG board; Mònica Plana, director of Elink, collaborator of Europe Direct Girona and associate professor at the University of Girona; David Coromina, Director of Business Development at the Girona Chamber of Commerce and head of the NGEU Office; and Pere Cots, Director of Strategic Consulting and Financing at PIMEC.
“We will never see this wave of subsidies in the company again”, assured David Martí, president of the technological employer Aenteg and member of the board of the FOEG. He was referring specifically to the Digital Kit, which is the first major measure related to digitization under the umbrella of European recovery funds. This is a 3 billion euro bonus for the technological transformation of SMEs and the self-employed, which make up a very important part of the productive fabric. At the moment, aid can be applied for for companies with between 10 and 49 workers, who will receive a bonus of 12,000 euros in lost funds. Later, grants of 6,000 euros are planned for companies with between 3 and 10 employees. And finally, micro-enterprises and the self-employed will be eligible for a bonus of 2,000 euros.
“It’s a plan designed for small businesses and freelancers that is coming, slowly and still in a drip, but it’s fine, because an avalanche of work is expected for those known as digitizing agents (suppliers),” added Martí .
“Technology providers will have a wave of work in the coming years”
Some 60,000 small and medium-sized companies from all over Spain have already applied for aid to digitize their businesswhich represents approximately 50% of the total number of companies to which the plan is addressed in this first phase.
The Digital Kit is one of many help lines in the so-called recovery fund, but there are many more. In order to be aware of this, various organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, or ACCIÓ, the agency that promotes the competitiveness of Catalan companies, have opened specific offices to support companies.
Xavier Elizondoof ACTION recalled that the Next Generation funds focus on two major transformational trends: the digitization and sustainability. He explained that “at ACCIÓ we have set up a consultancy office to help companies access these funds, not manage them”. “The aim is to reach the maximum number of state calls to help Catalan companies,” said Elizondo, who dedicated his presentation to explaining the broad lines of aid available.
He also admitted that some of the eligible projects are of “high complexity”, which has led some companies to give up aid. He also warned that the avalanche of aid lines is straining the administration, which often translates into very short deadlines for submitting eligible projects. In general.
From the Girona Chamber of Commerce, David Coromina, explained how they pioneered the launch of a specific office for European funds in November 2021. Since then, they have advised about fifty projects that will receive European aid. Coromina also lamented that most calls for Next Generation funds are not specifically targeted at companies. “Now it does not reach 15%, the government should be more receptive to open more lines for companies,” he said.
Banco Sabadell has also developed help and support plans specially designed for companies to be advised throughout the aid application process. Since these will not cover 100% of the projects submitted by companies, they have implemented different measures to contribute to the success of the projects, such as the anticipation of funding for eligible projects, the complementation of funding to cover all of the amount of investments required by the project or guarantees that ensure the financial coverage of the initiatives. According to Mireia Lafoz, Director of European Funds and Sustainability at Banco de Sabadell’s Territorial Office in Catalonia, “we have tried to simplify the information as much as possible with a file system, and any customer who comes to our branch network can find out very quickly what kind of help can be received ”. “Thanks to the knowledge we have about the activity of companies, we select the grants that best suit them,” he added.
“We have tried to simplify the information for companies as much as possible”
For its part, Pere Cots, of the employer Pimec, stressed that “aid and funds are not rescued” and in this sense stressed that they require investment capacity, solvency and planning by companies. “It’s important for small businesses to prioritize strategic planning before thinking about getting financial support from Next Generation funds,” said Cots, who warned that many of the loans requested in 2020 must now begin to be repaid. facing the hardest moments of the pandemic. “If the subsidy from European funds goes from 20% to 30%, the company needs a solid financial position because otherwise it will hardly be able to face the remaining 70% or 80%.”
“It’s key for small businesses to prioritize strategic planning before thinking about getting financial support from Next Generation Funds”
In the same vein, Coromina explained that with these requirements, it is difficult for SMEs or small business consortia to opt for large projects, “which will always end up in multinationals or Ibex companies”.
Finally, Mònica Plana, director of Elink and collaborator of Europe Direct Girona, recalled that although many aids will go directly to the administrations, these end up reverting to SMEs. He gave the example of a line of support for tourism that many Girona city councils have received for projects that can be 100% subcontracted to private companies.
Vacant calls and delays due to poor planning by the administration
A question from the audience attending the event about calls that are left empty, highlighted that in some lines they are not well enough worked. “No one was prepared for this exceptional mechanism. As the needs have not been properly calibrated, we are facing empty tenders. The administration will have to be more agile to prepare calls that are really useful “, said Mònica Plana, who also regretted some delays that accumulate lines of aid, such as the one destined to the rehabilitation of buildings. For his part, David Martí warned that “it’s raining” on this issue, because they often detect tenders “with starting prices that don’t make any sense. We find things absurd. Therefore, the president of the Aenteg asked that, “in the face of the flood irrigation that will involve European funds in the coming years, the administration must put the batteries.”
This month, the Spanish government has requested the second payment of the European funds Next Generation EU, which is the highest disbursement of resources, with a total of 12 billion euros, and which are linked to compliance with some of the milestones of greater importance of the Recovery Plan, such as the approval of labor reform. The amount of this second disbursement corresponds to the fulfillment of 40 milestones and objectives that were met during the second half of 2021. The satisfactory evaluation of the fulfillment of this package of milestones and objectives will thus suppose the disbursement of 12,000 million euros, which would add to the 9,036 million euros of pre-financing and 10 billion euros received in 2021. With this request, Spain becomes the first Member State to request this second disbursement. In the third quarter, the government is expected to request a third payment of 6 billion euros, the third of eight scheduled for 2026.