Spain faces risk of returning billions in unallocated EU funds

Spain faces significant challenges in executing European Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience funds. With a deadline of August 31 approaching, approximately 22 billion euros remain unallocated, risking a return of these resources to the European Union.

A critical area of concern is the digital skills plan, which was initially allocated 3.5 billion euros. According to AIReF, only 41% of these funds have been executed. One specific failure involves a 200 million euro subsidy granted to Unión Profesional to train 80,000 professionals in digitalization and artificial intelligence. By the end of June, the program had only trained 23,500 people, achieving less than 30% of its target.

Independent organizations, including BBVA Research and Funcas, have warned of a deceleration in the pace of execution. Data from the Ministry of Economy indicates that the average monthly amount of allocations has dropped from 1.2 billion euros in December to 1.1 billion euros in the first half of 2026.