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HELPDESK - SOCIAL SERVICES HELPDESK ON EU FUNDS

Spain

1.  Fund architecture

With a total allocation of €35.562 billion, Spain is the third largest beneficiary of EU cohesion policy funds in the period 2021-2027, behind only Poland and Italy. This allocation is divided into 23.397 billion euros from the ERDF, 11.296 billion euros from the ESF+ and 869 million euros from the FTJ, plus the 1.120 billion euros allocated to Spain for the FEMPA.
The ESF+ will have 19 regional programmes (1 for each Autonomous Community and Autonomous City) and 4 state programmes (covering the main sectoral policies): ESF+ State Programme for Youth Employment; ESF+ State Programme for Education and Training, Employment and Social Economy; ESF+ State Programme for Social Inclusion, Child Guarantee and Fight against Poverty; and ESF+ State Programme for Basic Material Assistance.
The 23,397 million euros from the ERDF will be distributed in 19 Regional Programmes (1 for each Autonomous Community and Autonomous City) and a Multi-regional Programme, which will serve as the main planning instrument for the actions of the General State Administration to be financed from this Fund.
Groups of ERDF regions. Article 108 of the Common Provisions Regulation categorises regions into three groups on the basis of their GDP per capita in relation to the EU-27 average:
  • Less developed regions: regions whose GDP per capita is less than 75% of the EU 27 average. (In Spain these would be the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia, Castilla La Mancha, Ceuta, Extremadura and Melilla).
  • Transition regions: regions whose GDP per capita is between 75% and 100% of the EU 27 average (Asturias, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla León, Galicia, La Rioja, Murcia, Valencia).
  • More developed regions: regions whose GDP per capita is higher than 100% of the EU27 average (Aragon, Catalonia, Navarre, Madrid, Basque Country).
EU AID FINANCIAL ALLOCATION ERDF AND ESF+ REGIONAL PROGRAMMES

The Directorate General for European Funds is the authority responsible for Spain before the EU in budgetary relations and in the management of European funds.

The Administrative Unit of the European Social Fund (UAFSE) is the body responsible for administering the resources from the European Social Fund in Spain. It is located in the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy, which is assigned national competence in employment matters, through the Secretary of State for Employment and Social Economy.

2.  Strategic objectives relevant to social services

OP 4. A more social and inclusive Europe, through the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights
ESF+ funding

Actions to be programmed through investments in SO (i) will include measures such as itineraries or socio-occupational insertion programmes combining several measures (guidance, pre-employment, training, recruitment or entrepreneurship support, social accompaniment, etc.) aimed at migrants,educational support measures and measures to combat prejudice, discrimination and segregation of migrants, including awareness-raising campaigns and those aimed at combating hate crime. Actions to be financed under SO(k) will address the reinforcement of equal and adequate access to basic services adapted to the characteristics of each territory, including health and housing services and sustainable social protection, through the implementation of the National Strategy for De- institutionalization and development of community support services, which is expected to be designed and implemented between 2022 and 2024. This strategy responds to the international mandate to promote a process of transformation of the long-term care model and the development of community and person-centred services and supports that contribute to the transition from the current care and institutional model to a model of community-based services.

Programming in SO(l) will aim to reduce levels of poverty and child poverty, in application of the National Strategy to Prevent and Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion (2019-2023), the National Strategy for the Rights of Children and Adolescents 2021 – 2030, the State Action Plan (PAE) for the implementation of the European Child Guarantee 2022-2030 and the Spanish Disability Strategy 2022- 2030, carrying out actions such as social inclusion itineraries or programmes aimed at young people, social inclusion itineraries or programmes aimed at children in vulnerable situations, support programmes for deinstitutionalisation, social integration measures, counselling, social services (non- labour) and access to other services, in coordination with FAMI, whose initial actions of reception and basic primary care for the migrant population, asylum seekers and refugees find a continuation in the actions developed under the ESF+, as well as measures aimed at promoting the inclusion of people with severe disabilities or at promoting the social and labour inclusion of homeless people or people with difficulties accessing housing, through approaches such as Housing First, under the future Comprehensive National Strategy for the Homeless, which is currently being developed. As for the measures to be programmed in the framework of the Child Guarantee, actions are envisaged such as itineraries for socio-educational promotion aimed at families with children aged 0-18 in situations of poverty and social exclusion, the Programme for Guidance, Advancement and Educational Enrichment in centres of special educational complexity (Programme #PROA+), actions for the improvement of inclusive education for students with special educational needs, a programme of free accessible places for children aged 0-18 in situations of poverty and social exclusion, a programme of free accessible places for children with special educational needs, a programme of free accessible places for children aged 0-18 in situations of poverty and social exclusion, and a programme for the improvement of inclusive education for students with special educational needs, a programme of free, accessible, inclusive and high quality places in the first cycle of Early Childhood Education for pupils from families with incomes below the poverty risk threshold, actions aimed at deinstitutionalisation and promotion of community care for children under the protection system, measures aimed at developing a universal early care system (0-6 years), or those aimed at promoting educational leisure and healthy lifestyles.
ERDF funding
The ERDF may finance actions complementary to those described for the ESF+ under specific objectives 4.3 and 4.4, aimed at the construction or rehabilitation of infrastructure for the adequate provision of social services, including actions aimed at the digitization, extension or improvement of the headquarters of non-profit organizations that contribute to the implementation of these policies. Likewise, social housing actions for vulnerable groups, day centers, or shelters and emergency centers, such as for victims of domestic violence or homeless people, among others, may be financed. In the area of social housing, priority will be given to actions aimed at promoting an increase in the stock of public social housing for rent, within the framework of integrated initiatives that seek the full integration of vulnerable groups. All actions to be financed will be in line with an approach oriented towards deinstitutionalization and community-based care.
OP 5. A Europe closer to its citizens, promoting the integrated and sustainable development of all types of territories and local initiatives.
Challenges: the actions programmed in this period in the field of urban development are approached from the triple perspective of the model of large cities, intermediate cities and functional areas. Thus, based on the existence of an integrated territorial strategy, local authorities will be able to access funding for it, within OP5, by submitting Integrated Action Plans. In addition, the simplification of the management model will be sought. In addition, the administrative capacity of beneficiaries will be strengthened through action guides and training courses, while the meetings and working groups of the Urban Initiatives Network will continue to be promoted as a forum for sharing information and training among beneficiaries. The Network is seen as a valuable and key resource for maintaining dialogue with local entities; therefore, its management will be strengthened and its regular meetings will be promoted. In short, the management of the model must be geared towards adapting more efficiently to the administrative capacity of the beneficiaries and enabling the funds to be absorbed in full. This will be the focus of programming efforts, management of calls for proposals and implementation of strategies.
Just Transition Fund
The Just Transition Territorial Plan foresees activities to be carried out in the following areas:
  • Green transformation of industry, considering, in addition to the reduction of GHG emissions, the maintenance and/or creation of employment; promotion of sustainable mobility; circular economy and energy efficiency, which in the case of housing takes into account, in particular, situations of energy poverty.
  • Boosting the value chain of renewable energies, self-consumption, energy storage and renewable hydrogen, in particular by supporting projects that can incorporate a social and employment component.
  • Promotion of SMEs and business projects that are drivers for the economic diversification of the territories and the creation and/or maintenance of employment.
  • Promotion of research, development and innovation (R&D&I), ICT integration and digital transformation, in order to make the territories concerned more attractive for both citizens and businesses.
  • Environmental rehabilitation, conservation of nature, biodiversity and ecosystems, promotion of historical, cultural, mining and industrial heritage, mainly through the promotion of other uses of existing infrastructures, and promotion of sustainable tourism, in order to enhance the value of the endogenous factors of the territory.
  • Promoting social infrastructures and the social economy, which contribute to curbing depopulation, and initiatives for training, qualification and insertion in the labour market for the unemployed and workers in the areas affected by closures, taking into account the attention paid to women and young people.

The distribution of the resources of this new fund has been carried out by the Institute for Just Transition on the basis of a methodology consistent with the criteria used by the European institutions in the distribution of the fund among the Member States, taking into account the volume of emissions, employment in mining and the weight of industrial employment.

The application of these criteria results in an allocation of EUR 154 million for Andalusia, EUR 263 million for the Principality of Asturias, EUR 197 million for Castile and Leon, EUR 111 million for Galicia and EUR 92 million for Aragon. The remaining €52 million will be for the direct management of the Institute for Just Transition

3.  Thematic concentration

  • Youth employment, SO (a) mandatory, (f) and (l) optional At least 12.50%.
  • Social inclusion, SO h) – l), including the promotion of socio-economic integration of third country nationals, at least 25%.
  • Material deprivation, SO (m) in addition to 25% social inclusion or SO (l) in duly justified cases or both SOs, at least 3%.
  • Combating child poverty SOs h)-l) which also count towards the 25% social inclusion + SO f) which do not count, at least 5%.
  • Capacity building of social partners and social partners, all SOs except m), at least 0.25%.
  • Social innovation SO (a) – (l) Maximum 5% at national level

4.  National and regional coordination of funds

Since Spain joined the EU in 1986, the Directorate General for European Funds has been the authority responsible for Spain before the EU in terms of budgetary relations and management of European funds. This website provides information on all the European funds managed in Spain, through the different administrations, as well as information related to the different periods (multi-annual frameworks), main new developments and Spain’s reporting obligations to the EU in terms of European funds.
The competences attributed to the Directorate-General for European Funds are as follows:
  • Negotiation with the European Commission on matters related to European funds.
  • Coordination of the Territorial Administrations and the rest of the responsible ministerial departments with regard to the programmes, monitoring and evaluation of the Structural Funds.
  • The preparation of studies and coordination of the evaluation of programmes financed by the European Structural Funds.
  • The analysis, selection and monitoring of projects to be financed from the resources of the Inter-territorial Compensation Fund.
  • The proposal for payments from the European Regional Development Fund to the final beneficiaries, therefore.

5.   References

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Fund architecture
  2. Strategic objectives relevant to social services
  3. Thematic concentration
  4. National and regional coordination of funds
  5. References
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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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