The Government will present “in weeks” the system to qualify for EU reconstruction funds

The Government will present “in the coming days, in the coming weeks” the mechanism for companies to opt for European funds for reconstruction, as revealed by the fourth vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera, who has also indicated that the Statute of electro-intensive consumers will be announced in October.

Ribera participated this morning in the New Economy Forum and urged companies to move forward, designing projects in accordance with the main strategic lines set by the EU to grant the 750,000 million euros of the reconstruction package after the Covid-19 crisis, although Brussels has not yet finished the regulations and forms that guarantee the correct management of resources.

The vice president has considered that the European Commission “is being a little slower than would be desirable, especially taking into account the limitation of deadlines”, and has revealed that the Government will present a complete scheme on how to channel the projects likely to receive funds “in the coming days, in the coming weeks”.

Ribera responded to Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel -Endesa’s parent company-, who asked him about the matter, adding that companies must prepare the projects: “companies do not have to wait for a channel to open”, because the strategic lines of the preferred destination of the funds are clear: ecological transition and digitalization: “There is no great doubt that energy companies, including gas and oil companies, can have in this field; it’s not something that’s relevant.”

Projects must be solid

He did consider it important that the projects be solid, due to the scarcity of deadlines: “Brussels thinks about the reactivation in the short term, in which the set of available resources must be committed before the end of 2023, although then until 2026 it also includes the possibility of obtaining loans”. That is why he considered it very important that the projects are supported by a framework of reforms and by “a solvency regarding the viability and sustainability of the project that makes us convinced that it is viable to invest”.

The vice president thinks that more than 30% of the funds can be used in the process of ecological transition and has stressed the importance of cross-border collaboration and the importance of the process to “rebalance the economy in favor of the industry”, especially in view of the problem arising with the pandemic due to the “excessive weight” of tourism in some territories.

Responding to Ángeles Santamaría, CEO of Iberdrola Spain, she stressed the opportunity that the transformation represents for the national industry, especially in the production of capital goods and in the energy and automotive value chain, and has advanced that the new Statute for the electro-intensive industry will be presented in October by the Head of Industry, Reyes Maroto. Ribera has declined to advance details of the new design, “which is practically closed”, explaining that it corresponds to his colleague, with whom he has been working closely.

Electric vehicle does not brake

At the request of Arturo Pérez de Lucía, general director of Aedive, the sectoral association of electric vehicles, he has shown his confidence that, despite the crisis, the goal of having five million electric vehicles circulating on the roads by 2030 will be reached and has announced a new regulation to ensure that the recharging points are operational and fully available.

He has also described as “false debate” the changes in the use of the maritime-terrestrial domain that are included in the future Climate Change Law, which harm numerous farms in Galicia and other areas of the country, explaining that the Constitutional Court has already established the maximum term of the concessions: “there must be people interested in instilling fear”, has riveted.

Source: The Economist