The challenge with EU recovery funds
The article analyses the main challenges Spain will have to face in order to use the funds it will receive from the European Union in the recovery plan under the European Council’s resolution of 21 July 2020. According to the author, it is “a unique opportunity to launch an investment and reform programme ambitious enough to […] have robust, more sustainable and inclusive economic growth”.
According to the author, the main challenge will be ‘subjecting government to indigestion from EU funds’. Not turning the EU’s budgetary effort to account would severely damage our credibility and waste the push for reforms apparently opening up with this window of opportunity.
To tackle this challenge successfully, the author gives various recommendations:
- Investment planning: it is necessary to avoid the “bureaucratic allocation” of funds between government institutions and administrative offices; prioritise investments that are actually in line with long-term recovery and transformation plans; and concentrate funds in a few transformational projects instead of multiple small projects without a real impact.
- Management and certification: To use the largest amount of funds available, it is necessary to create “a project preparation service with sufficient material and human resources to sustain a pipeline of quality investment projects, like the delivering units that were implemented in the United Kingdom during the government of Tony Blair”.
- Connection to a national strategy for economic and social reforms: Investment plans must be connected to political reforms in order to access the funds.
Filter results
According to IE University’s Center for the Governance of Change, deeper and more integrated financial markets would strengthen the euro’s global role. This requires, among other elements, resilient and interoperable payment systems and completing the banking union.
Partnerships between banks and private credit: The winners will be those that combine bank underwriting discipline, distribution, and customer access with private capital’s appetite for long-dated, illiquid risk, according to Oliver Wyman.
Lucrezia Reichlin (CEPR): A CBDC is not a prerequisite for monetary sovereignty. Confusing money with payments can risk misdiagnosing the problem and misaligning economic policy efforts.
According to the World Economic Forum´s Global Risk Report 2026, geoeconomic confrontation, mis- and disinformation and societal polarization make up the top three short-term risks, while environmental risks dominate in the long term.
According to the World Economic Forum, over the last few years AI has moved from experimentation to workflow integration, promising systemic gains in productivity while also raising critical questions around economic inclusion, values, trust and resilience.
According to AFME, a clearer, more coherent, and proportionate regulatory environment, without unnecessary layers and focuses on growth and competitiveness, is keyl to increase investor confidence, unlock private capital and deepen European capital markets
According to the Center for the Governance of Change at IE University, Europeans support technological progress if it reinforces security, inclusion, and social welfare; but resist it when change feels imposed, opaque, or misaligned with their values.
According to a recent report released by CEPS, European financial regulators should adopt competitiveness as a formal secondary objective, following the precedent established by the UK's Financial Services and Markets Act 2023.
According to the OECD. SMEs and start-ups that grow rapidly contribute significantly to job creation, economic growth and competitiveness. Indeed, SMEs that grow by one-third over a three-year period, contribute about as much to job creation as large firms.
According to @McKinsey, banks must prepare for a new growth curve. Strategic precision —the ability to combine technology, capital discipline, and deep customer insight— will distinguish the leaders from the laggards.
According to Kristalina Georgeva IMF Managing Director, lifting growth requires three things: one, regulatory housecleaning to unleash private enterprise; two, deeper regional integration; and three, preparedness to harness AI.
According to The European House – Ambrosetti, the European Union has an opportunity to boost competitiveness and growth by simplifying regulatory and supervisory frameworks, particularly in the areas of sustainability and the financial sector.