EU Cohesion policy: €2.7 billion of additional resources to support the recovery in Spain, Italy and Cyprus

The Commission has approved the modification of seven Operational Programmes (OP) for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund in Spain, Italy and Cyprus under REACT-EU for a total of €2.7 billion. The Commission has granted an additional financing of €1.6 billion to Italy under the National Operational Programme ‘Enterprises and Competitiveness’. These additional resources will support SMEs in making investments in the green and digital transition. The REACT-EU resources will also be invested in interventions in the field of energy, like in the development and reinforcement of Smart grids for the transmission and distribution of energy and in measures aimed at increasing the energy efficiency of public buildings. In Spain, more than €1 billion of additional money is granted under REACT-EU to top up operational programmes (OP) of the European Regional Development Fund. The region of Aragón will receive additional resources of more than €207 million. These will be allocated to investments in products and services for healthcare, investments contributing to a transition towards a digital and green economy, and in infrastructure providing basic services to citizens. The region of Extremadura will receive an additional amount of €87 million. This money will be invested to strengthen the capacity to respond to public health crises, to support SMEs in the form of working capital and to ensure infrastructures providing basic services to citizens. The Operational Programme for the Baleares will be increased by an amount of €194 million. These resources will used for  investments to reinforce health and social services to combat COVID-19, to provide working capital for the most affected SMEs, to support the climate transition and to provide basic infrastructure for citizens. The Madrid region will receive an additional amount of €587 million. A significant part of the REACT-EU funds for Madrid region is planned to be used for the rehabilitation of the University Hospital ‘12 Octubre’ a strategic operation for increasing the resilience of the Community’s health system and improving the health services provided to its population. In Cyprus, the OP ‘Competitiveness and sustainable development’ will receive an additional amount of more than € 46.4 million. This money will be invested in support to SMEs affected by the pandemic mainly with non-repayable financial support for working capital (grants), as well as to actions contributing to climate change objectives. REACT-EU is part of NextGenerationEU and provides €50.6 billion additional funding (in current prices) over the course of 2021 and 2022 to Cohesion policy programmes.