The Spanish economy is undergoing significant changes against the background of the situation in recent years. After the considerable stagnation caused by the pandemic outbreak, companies now face an opportunity to manage an unprecedented amount of aid aimed at reviving the economy and modernizing key sectors. These include manufacturing, tourism, e-commerce, education and housing. On 13 July, the Council of Ministers of Economic and Finance (EcoFin) finally approved the Recovery Plan, which the Spanish government presented before summer.
These funds will revolutionize critical sectors of the Spanish economy. In total, the government has included 212 major investment reforms that “will enable Spain’s economic and social transformation, productivity and social cohesion, population skills, innovation and competitiveness in the wake of the economic crisis caused by Covid-19,” according to the government.
The goal is to achieve a greener and more digital country and reduce social, territorial and gender gaps. Great hopes are pinned on the European Reconstruction Funds, through which a transformation in the housing sector is possible. The assistance should help restore neighbourhoods and improve the energy efficiency of buildings, both residential and office and public institutions. The effect will be achieved by adopting measures to reduce consumption and introducing renewable energy sources - construction and housing produce 30% of CO2 emissions from human activities. In total, 6.82 billion euros will be allocated for the Urban Recovery and Regeneration Plan, which will be distributed between 2021 and 2023 in the form of non-repayable subsidies and repayable loans.
The assistance will be used to rehabilitate public, urban and rural spaces, with particular attention to vulnerable groups and cities with less than 5,000 inhabitants. Large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, property owners and homeowners associations can participate in the program. “The renovation of the housing stock is necessary to achieve the medium-term goal of climate neutrality by 2050, as well as to increase employment and activity in the construction and renovation sector in the short term,” said José Fuster Andres, director of European funds and sustainable development in the Eastern Territory of Banco Sabadell. The organization, Fuster emphasizes, has prepared “a proposal that will demonstrate our support throughout the process of researching, financing and processing housing rehabilitation projects.”