El Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia: Una perspectiva regional

Resumo

This work aims to evaluate the Spanish "Recovery, Trans- formation and Resilience Plan" (RTRP) from a regional perspective. Interterritorial convergence has stopped in Spain in the last fifteen years, mainly due to the concen- tration of productivity gains in the most advanced re- gions. The RTRP is an opportunity to reverse the slug- gishness of public investment and decisively stimulate private investment, thanks to the volume of funds and the accompanying reforms demanded by the European Union (EU). However, the Spanish regions or "autono- mous communities (ACs)" have been absent from the planning and design of many of the programs, and the reforms committed ignore the territorial organization (fi- nancing, governance, development). There are no spe- cific strategies. The territorial scope is homogeneous, with a decisive presence of horizontal policies. On the other hand, the ACs participate in the implementation phase within the scope of their powers. With some delay, they have received nearly 40% of the resources already committed. The central government manages the re- maining funds. While smaller regions have received more resources per inhabitant, the relationship between the level of regional development and the funds received is not significant from a statistical standpoint. Hence, the regional distribution of funds does not favor conver- gence and territorial cohesion. The RTRP started late and with an initially slow execution, but it has recently accel- erated, especially in the case of the central government. The delay of the ACs is explained, in part, by factors com- mon to other EU regional funds (complexity, control, fragmentation of management) and, in part, by specific aspects of the RTRP. In particular, the absence of partici- pation in the design challenges the commitment of re- gional administrations, and the lack of a concrete, sched- uled, and organized action program complicates the re- inforcement of the administrative apparatus. Further- more, the arrival of additional funds competes with the implementation of ordinary EU programs