Spain to allocate €13.2 B of EU funds towards sustainable transport and electric vehicles

President Sánchez announces €6.82 B will be spent on housing as part of economic recovery plan

Spanish president Pedro Sánchez during the cabinet meeting on April 13, 2021 (by Borja Puig de la Bellacasa/Pool Moncloa)
Spanish president Pedro Sánchez during the cabinet meeting on April 13, 2021 (by Borja Puig de la Bellacasa/Pool Moncloa) / ACN

ACN | Madrid

April 13, 2021 02:30 PM

Calling the economic recovery plan "the most ambitious and transcendental in the economic history of Spain," President Pedro Sánchez announced on Tuesday that €13.2 billion will be spent on bolstering sustainable transport and electric vehicles—by far the largest allocation of the €70 billion EU funds for 2021 to 2023.

Housing and urban regeneration, which includes installing solar panels, will receive the second-largest amount of funding, €6.820 billion, while another €4.315 billion will go towards modernizing government agencies, €4.060 billion for digitalizing SMEs, and around €4 billion for the country's 5G network.

"We only come by opportunities like this a few times every century and we cannot let it pass us by," Sánchez told the press after the weekly cabinet meeting in Madrid, describing the funds as Spain's "greatest opportunity" since joining the European Union.

"We only come by opportunities like this a few times every century and we cannot let it pass us by," Sánchez told the press after the weekly cabinet meeting in Madrid, describing it as Spain's "greatest opportunity" since joining the European Union.

Spain's economic recovery plan, which Sánchez said would be sent to Brussels this month, includes 212 measures, of which 110 involve the allocation of funds. The remaining 102 are reforms, including of the public health system, energy and renewables, or the modernization of the justice system.