ERDF CO-FINANCING CATALUNYA 2021-2027

The operation will co-finance investments in the regional government of Catalonia supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The aim is to support schemes under the ERDF Operational Programme for investment in growth and employment developed under the Spanish Partnership Agreement for the EU 2021-2027 programming period.

The Project concerns priority investments of the operational programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Catalunya. The Project fosters innovation, digitalisation, climate action, environmental protection, health care, and disaster risk prevention.

Sound programming and programme management will ensure that the Project's benefits will spread throughout the region, thereby contributing to its balanced socioeconomic and territorial development. The investment programme is plan-led and well embedded in the EU Cohesion policy architecture centring around the policy goals of a smarter, greener, and more social Europe. EIB support to the region's public co-financing of the ERDF investments will help kick-start the implementation of the investment schemes.

The Project addresses sub-optimal investment situations in many sectors, primarily under the "smarter Europe" and "greener Europe" objectives. Specifically, the Project will support the provision of infrastructure and activities related to research, development and innovation (RDI) whose returns to society are known to be larger than the financial return to the investor. It will also address the failure in financial markets to support RDI in SMEs at scale, arising from limited access to and/or higher cost of financing due to factors such as information asymmetries (intensified by the inherent uncertainty of RDI investment), misalignment of incentives, lack of collateral and/or lack of track record. Furthermore, digitalisation of SMEs and strengthening of e-government and e-services will drive efficiency gains and lead to internationalisation of companies and improved access to public services. The Project will support energy efficiency in public buildings and production of energy from renewable sources, primarily by installation of photovoltaic panels, thereby lowering the negative externalities from CO2 emissions. It will also create positive externalities in the fields of soil and water conservation through natural resources protection measures. Furthermore, the planned investments in health centres will address the sub-optimal investment situation in the European health infrastructure due to market failures derived from the public good nature of healthcare services and the large positive externalities that investing in them can generate. Finally, through support to natural disaster risk prevention measures, the Project will reduce negative environmental, social and economic impacts related to natural disasters.

EIB's financing provides significant stability to the management of the Borrower's long-term obligations. The EIB will include flexible drawdown terms, longer length of availability period for disbursements, grace periods adjusted to the implementation calendar and possibility to convert/revise interest rates, elements highly valued by public promoters as a key differentiating feature of EIB's financing. 

The Promoter will be required to act in compliance with the relevant EU environmental legislation. The EIB's appraisal will focus on the promoter's environmental management capacity in applying the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive 2001/42/EC and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive 2011/92/EU (amended by the Directive 2014/52/EU), as relevant and transposed to the national legislation. In particular, the ERDF Operational Programme is subject to a SEA. Furthermore, some schemes thereunder may fall under Annex I or Annex II of the EIA Directive. The applicability of the EIA Directive, the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC and the Birds Directive 2009/147/EC will be reviewed at appraisal and during the allocation phase. Some schemes in the ERDF Operational Programme might concern the construction or upgrade of small water and wastewater treatment infrastructure or the construction or upgrade of water distribution infrastructure. The EIB will assess the promoter's compliance with the Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC and the Urban Waste Water Council Directive 91/271/EEC at appraisal and during the allocation phase. Some schemes in the ERDF Operational Programme might concern the new construction or refurbishment of buildings. The Bank will assess the Promoter's compliance with the Energy performance of buildings directive (Directive EU/2018/844) at appraisal and during the allocation phase.

The Promoter has to ensure that contracts for implementation of the Project are tendered in accordance with the applicable EU procurement legislation, Directives 2014/23/EU / 2014/24/EU / 2014/25/EU as well as Directive 92/13/EEC or Directive 89/665/EEC, as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with publication of tender notices in the EU Official Journal, as and where required.