Where do the funds come from?
EU BUDGET 2021-2027
The budget is associated with the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument and amounts to 2,018 billion euros. It is designed to deal with the economic and social damage caused by the pandemic.
It is divided into two pillars:
- Long-term budget – Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027: 1,211 billion euros.
- The temporary recovery plan – NextGenerationEU: 806.9 billion euros.
MULTIANNUAL FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK
All resources are made available to face common challenges and create added value for the EU. The European budget is organised by policy areas or spending categories:
- Single market, innovation and digital economy.
- Cohesion, resilience and values.
- Natural resources and environment.
- Migration and border management.
- Security and defence.
- Local vicinity and the rest of the world.
- European public administration.
- Direct management: the European Commission and its agencies and delegations manage around 20% of the EU budget. They are responsible for all stages of the execution of programmes. You can find the application rounds proposals under direct management on the funding and tenders portal (SEDIA).
- Shared management: national authorities and the European Commission jointly manage around 70% of EU programmes. The authorities of the Member States (national, regional and local) choose which projects they fund and manage.
- Indirect management: other international organisations, national agencies or non-EU countries manage around 10% of this budget. Destined mostly for humanitarian aid and international development.
- Grants: direct financial contributions from the budget of the European Union given in the form of a grant to third-party beneficiaries (non-profit organisations) participating in projects that pursue EU policy objectives.
- Financial instruments: EU financial support measures which may take the form of equity or quasi-equity investments, loans or guarantees and other risk-sharing instruments. These may be combined with grants.
- Awards: financial contribution granted in the framework of a contest to stimulate investment in a certain field. Winners receive the prize as cash, advertising rights or promotional campaigns.
- Public contracting: purchase of services, supplies or works by a contracting authority (EU institution or local administration of the Member State) through a public contract. Public procurement offers that are subject to EU rules must be published in the online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union, which acts as the portal of the electronic journal of tenders (Tenders Electronic Daily – TED). Public administrations can also choose to publish announcements on the TED portal when a contract is of lower value.
NEXT GENERATION UE
Temporary recovery instrument of 806,900 million euros at current rates, which will be channelled through the long-term budget of the EU. Its two largest programmes are the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the Recovery Assistance Programmes for Cohesion and Territories of Europe (REACT EU), which scales up crisis response measures to help the recovery of the economy.
The Recovery and Resilience Mechanism is the instrument that absorbs most of the Next Generation funds, with 723.8 billion euros at current rates. It has been funding reforms and investments in Member States from the start of the pandemic in February 2020 until 31st December, 2026.
The part of the subsidy is distributed among the EU countries, according to different allocation criteria (gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, unemployment rates, population and the impact of the pandemic crisis).
The Recovery and Resilience Mechanism is the instrument that absorbs most of the Next Generation funds, with 723.8 billion euros at current rates. It has been funding reforms and investments in Member States from the start of the pandemic in February 2020 until 31st December, 2026.
The part of the subsidy is distributed among the EU countries, according to different allocation criteria (gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, unemployment rates, population and the impact of the pandemic crisis).
Plan España
Plan España is built around four strands: ecological transition, digital transformation, social and territorial cohesion and gender equality. These are explored through 10 policy levers and 30 components. Spain is eligible to receive up to 140,000 million euros for reforms and investments between 2021 and 2026. Of these, almost 70,000 correspond to non-reimbursable grants/transfers and the rest to available credits. 70% of the grants must be committed by the European Commission in 2021 and 2022 and the remaining 30% will be fully committed by the end of 2023 and can run until 2026.
How can I access Next Generation funds?
Recovery and Resilience Mechanism funds are run under a system of direct management. They are paid directly to Member States based on their progress in their national recovery and resilience plans and achievement of their targets. Grants and tenders are the main instruments for distributing the Recovery Plan funds and these are launched through application rounds published by the different authorities: ministries/state public companies, Autonomous Communities and Town Halls.
The Region of Murcia has promoted the Next CARM Office, intended to manage the General Directorate of Budgets and EU Funds for the monitoring and coordination of the tools and funds of the Recovery and Resilience programmes, which are run through the Autonomous Community itself.
