Spain to focus Covid recovery funds on ecological transition, digitalization
Madrid, Apr 13 (EFE).- Spain plans to invest 68% of its share of the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund in ecological transition and digitalization between 2021-23.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told a press conference that the plan would modernize the Spanish economy and that it was the best opportunity for Spain since it joined the European Union.
“Chances like these only come around a couple of times a century,” he said.
The prime minister said the government proposed a public investment of 70 billion euros ($83Bn) into Spain’s ecological transition and its digital overhaul over the course of three years.
Around 50 billion euros would go to 10 of the 20 major investment projects outlined in the government’s recovery plan.
Sánchez is due to present the proposal to lawmakers in Spain’s parliament on Wednesday and it is to be sent to the European Commission this month
Spain’s economy has been battered by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly due to its heavy reliance on tourism.
The country is set to receive 140 billion euros from the EU’s recovery fund between 2021-26, half of which would be in the form of grants and the other half loans.
The recovery plan is Spain’s “most ambitious” in the country’s recent economic history.
Over the next three years, the government hopes to allocate 39% of funds to the country’s ecological transition, 29% to its digitalization, 10.5% to education and 7% to investigation and development. EFE
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