Spain | European Funds: unfinished story

Summary

As we draw closer to 2026—the last year for Spain to mobilize its funding under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RRRP)—now would be a good time to take stock of the progress made, while also examining the constraints that still prevent Spain from unlocking the full transformative potential of this funding.

Key points

• Key points:
• In a recent report by BBVA Research, we highlighted that, since its implementation, the RRRP has awarded funding and contracts worth a total of €46.2 billion, equivalent to 2.9% of the nation’s GDP and 58% of the funds accompanying the Plan.
• Yet despite the large number of beneficiaries, the actual distribution of expenditure remains uneven: individuals and SMEs have walked away with just 9% and 27% of the total funds, respectively.
• At the territorial level, the mobilization of these resources has made a positive contribution to regional cohesion. Autonomous regions of Spain with lower per capita income, such as Extremadura or Galicia, have received a higher volume of funds in relative terms.
• While 89% of the tenders have already been awarded, only 15% of the grant funding has been spent and more than 40% of the projects have not issued a grant.
• To reach 100% of the committed expenditure by the end of 2026, Spain needs to pick up the pace of its monthly execution by 29% over the next year and a half.

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