(Bloomberg) — The European Commission approved the payment of €6 billion ($6.4 billion) of new post-pandemic funds to Spain after the government fixed a system to audit and track of the money.
(Bloomberg) — The European Commission approved the payment of €6 billion ($6.4 billion) of new post-pandemic funds to Spain after the government fixed a system to audit and track of the money.
The commission said Friday in a new assessment that the country has met the 29 milestones and targets needed to unlock the third payment of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.
This will bring the total amount received by Spain to €37 billion, or more than half of the allocated grants. Member states still need to give final approval for the disbursement.
Spain is the largest beneficiary of the plan after Italy, and is considered a test case for the rest of the EU given its difficulties implementing economic reforms. The two countries are the only ones that have asked for a third payment.
Spain ran into difficulties implementing an information-sharing system originally promised for the third quarter of 2021, putting at risk payments from the €160 billion it’s eligible to receive.
For the fourth payment, Madrid still needs to complete the second leg of its pension reform and go through a general fiscal assessment of the reform, the commission said.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.