This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. The Spanish government agreed to do labour and pension reforms in order to be able to access funds through the European Recovery and Resilience Mechanism that was established to support EU economies hit by the Pandemic. A review of the mechanism could see the country lose €50 billion 41.7 billion in funding and €70 billion 58.4 billion in low-interest loans.
The move sets the EU and one of its key member states on a collision course over how EU funds are distributed. Spanish newspaper ABC said that although Spanish government sources feel confident that they will still be able to access the funds, EU diplomats are sceptical about the impact the reforms will have. Spain was initially allocated €69.5 billion 58 billion in EU grants and €70 billion in loans. After being granted a €9 billion disbursement last August, it has already been allocated €12 billion 10 billion in funding.
The EU humiliated! The Spanish government agreed to spend the funding in specific parts of the economy, as part of the funding, 40 percent of grants will go towards climate change objectives and a further 18 percent to digital transformation, according to the European Commission. A huge chunk of the remaining allocation could be taken away as part of a review by the EU. As part of the agreement, the agreement asked Spain to commit to reforms in labour and pensions. The Spanish parliament approved the pension reform in its first phase. The labour reforms are beginning the parliamentary process, after the government has agreed a minimum pact with companies and trade unions, ABC said.
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It is not the first time that Spain has been in the crosshairs with the European Commission during the Pandemic. In December, Spain outlawed making Covid 19 vaccination mandatory for its citizens, after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for a common approach to vaccination amid a rising tide of Omicron cases. She said it was understandable to lead this discussion, how we can encourage and possibly think about mandatory vaccination within the EU. This needs to be discussed and this needs a common approach.