International Action
 |
DESCRIPTION
The city of Madrid's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, published in May 2021, includes 105 actions that Madrid City Council aims to carry out under various European funding frameworks, in line with national and European green and digital transformation priorities.
Investments will be made in key urban action areas such as mobility, renewable and distributed power generation, digital transformation of municipal services and companies, increasing green spaces and improving their conservation and ecological connectivity, and regenerating neighbourhoods and homes, in addition to restoring territorial balance and fostering social cohesion, childcare and gender equality.
Maximising the receipt of all of these European funds and making proper use of them for projects that will transform Madrid requires vigorous exercise of competencies relating to management of Community funds but also management of budgets and staff, in addition to competencies relating to coordinating and driving action by the various government departments involved.
To this end, a decision was made to create a framework of governance co-managed by the three units with the relevant competences (the Delegated Area for Internationalisation and Cooperation, the Government Department of Finance and Personnel and the General Coordination Unit of the Mayor’s Office), based on a Strategy and Coordination Committee which was tasked with drafting a Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan for the City of Madrid similar to the National Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
In addition, in 2021 Madrid City Council created a Sub-Directorate General for European Funds, attached to the Delegated Area for Internationalisation and Cooperation. This Sub-Directorate is responsible for dealing with, coordinating and monitoring municipal policies relating to European funds; for planning and overseeing EU funding used in the city of Madrid, without prejudice to the competences of other government bodies in this area; and for implementing the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, without prejudice to the management and coordination responsibilities of the Strategy and Coordination Committee.
BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 crisis has caused drastic economic loss and had a strong social impact, hitting cities particularly hard.
To soften the blow, the European Union agreed a Recovery Plan called Next Generation EU with a budget of 750 billion euros which is intended to make it easier for Member States to begin their exits from the crisis and to lay the foundations for a modern, more sustainable Europe. Specifically, the Recovery and Resilience Facility is the instrument of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan that will allocate financial aid to help strengthen the recovery and prevent structural impacts on the productive fabric.
The facility is implemented via National Plans in each EU Member State which must foster investment and the demand for goods and services in the domestic market, in addition to speeding up the green and digital transitions and seeking to ensure social cohesion. Spain's National Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, approved in April 2021, establishes the guidelines for the first phase of mobilising the almost 70 billion euros in transfers from the Recovery and Resilience Facility that have been allocated to the country.
It should be noted that Next Generation EU is an additional funding instrument that supplements the European Union’s long-term budget for 2021 to 2027, which is 1.074 trillion euros.
OBJECTIVES
- Implement the city of Madrid's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan
- Foster the funding of transformative projects that speed up the green and digital transitions
- Expand sources of funding for the design and implementation of new city projects
- Increase Madrid City Council's participation in projects backed by European funds which require partnership between various public authorities as well as public-private initiative
- Facilitate implementation of city projects requiring simultaneous participation by different municipal bodies (government departments, district councils and municipally-owned corporations)
DURATION
The project is intended to be long-term, linked to the existence of European funding facilities.
THE PROJECT IN NUMBERS
The annual budget for a new organisational structure dedicated to raising European funds is 590,000 euros.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Madrid Internacional >>
