Brussels disburses the fifth payment to Spain from the recovery plan, amounting to 23 billion euros

Brussels – The European Commission confirmed this Friday the disbursement of the fifth tranche of the recovery and resilience plan for Spain, which is associated with 23.1 billion — 8 billion in grants and 16 billion in loans — a payment from which Brussels deducted 1 billion due to the government’s failure to meet two key milestones: the tax increase on diesel and investments in the digitalization of regional and local entities.

According to a statement from the European Executive, these funds will support measures to boost renewable energies, reduce bureaucracy, and improve the efficiency of justice. The funds will also be invested in the short-distance railway transport network and will strengthen cybersecurity resilience.

“We continue to drive the modernization of the Spanish economy,” highlighted the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on his X account, where he added that this milestone means that Spain reinforces its “leadership” in the implementation of European funds.

Spain receives these funds along with Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, and Malta, so Brussels is releasing a total of nearly 43 billion belonging to the plan launched to address the consequences of the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus.

At the beginning of July, the European Commission reported that just over 1 billion of this payment would remain “suspended” until Spain meets these milestones, which now has an additional deadline to complete the pending objectives.