Coronavirus response: Over €180 million Cohesion policy funding redirected to support Cataluña and Navarra regions in Spain

The Commission has approved the modification of Cohesion policy programmes in Cataluña and Navarra to help the two Spanish regions in their fight against coronavirus. Over €180 million of Cohesion policy funding will be redirected to strengthen the regions’ capacity to respond to the health crisis. The modification of the programmes will increase temporarily the EU financing rate to 100%, thus helping beneficiaries overcome liquidity scarcity in the implementation of their projects. Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, said: “Today’s adoption will help increase the response capacity of the health system through supplementary hospital beds, recruit new health workers, increase testing capacity and purchase of equipment, including the protective ones. This is especially important for Spain which is severely affected by the pandemic.” The modifications are possible thanks to the exceptional flexibility provided by the Commission under the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII) and Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative Plus (CRII+) which allow Member States to use Cohesion policy funding to support the sectors most exposed sectors to the pandemic and its economic consequences, such as healthcare, SMEs and labour markets. Spain plans to use in total €2.5 billion from the European Regional Development Fund to support the health services and businesses in mitigating the harmful consequences of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.