The Government of Spain initiates the process to distribute the advance payment from the European Union Solidarity Fund to those affected by the DANA

Through the Directorate General of European Funds, the Ministry of Treasury has communicated by letter to the Generalitat Valenciana and the municipalities affected by the DANA the procedure for receiving the advance payment from the EU Solidarity Fund, in the event of having allocated eligible expenditure for this mechanism.

The advance approved by the European Commission amounts to €100 million to start covering part of the eligible expenditure related to emergency, rehabilitation and reconstruction actions in the affected areas.

On 21 January 2025, the Government submitted an application to the European Commission for financial assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund amounting to €4.403 billion. A large part of this amount - more than €2 billion - corresponded to spending by the General State Administration, while €1.357 billion was requested by the Generalitat Valenciana, and €1.035 billion allocated to local councils.

In April, the Commission paid an advance of €100 million. This amount represents an advance on the total aid finally determined by the commission after a full assessment of the damage.

Distribution of the advance

The distribution of the advance payment of €100 million is calculated on the basis of the weight of the estimated expenditure submitted by each sub-sector to the total amount shown in the application to the commission for all administrations together. In other words, it depends on the weight of the expenditure allocated by the Generalitat Valenciana or each local council with respect to the total amount requested.

In the case of the Generalitat Valenciana, the letter sent informs that it is entitled to €30.8 million of the advance payment. This is an amount in line with the weight of the expenditure presented by the Generalitat among the total amount sent to the commission for financing by this European mechanism.

The Ministry of Treasury has also sent a letter to the municipalities affected by the natural disaster that had expenditures earmarked for this fund. Specifically, Local Authorities are entitled to an advance of €23.5 million.

There is now a maximum period of 10 working days to respond if they want to receive this advance. In the event that a municipality chooses not to receive the advance, the funds will be automatically reallocated to the Comunitat Valenciana so that it can meet emergency, rehabilitation and reconstruction expenses.

The letter clarifies that waiving the advance payment will in no way imply waiving the final receipt of aid from the EU Solidarity Fund. In other words, all administrations will receive the money to which they are entitled regardless of whether or not they have applied for the advance. It should be recalled that the municipalities have already received €1.745 million in transfers from the central government to cover DANA costs, which are in the process of being implemented.

The letters also recall that accepting the advance payment entails a commitment to comply with the provisions of the EU Solidarity Fund Regulation:

• Implementation of effective management and control mechanisms.
• Regular and verifiable justification of expenditure.
• Prevention and correction of irregularities.
  
• Compliance with EU procurement directives.
• Ensuring that there is no double funding with other EU instruments.

Mobilising resources to mitigate the impact of the DANA

Beyond assistance from the Solidarity Fund, the Government is committed to mobilising the necessary resources to mitigate the impact of the DANA.

In fact, according to budget execution data for 2024 and the first months of 2025, the Central Administration has already allocated more than €7.4 billion to mitigate the damage, which represents more than 90% of the resources used by all public administrations to this effect.

Non official translation