Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The AMB will take advantage of the Next Generation EU funds to boost the transformation of the metropolitan territory, and will present projects totalling 2,717 MEUR. Access to resources from the EU's Next Generation funds will allow the AMB to give more impetus to its service digitisation and ecological and energy transition projects in the territory.

The AMB's Next Generation metropolitan programmes include a total of 11 projects, with 34 actions aligned with the Next Generation EU objectives.

The AMB has defined 9 projects within the framework of the Investment and Support Programme for the Digital Transition (134,39 MEUR) and the Investment Programme for Energy and Ecological Transition (1.128,05 MEUR), which are eligible to receive financing from the Next Generation EU funds through the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. In addition to these projects, TMB has planned actions to improve the bus and metro network, for the amount of 1,454 MEUR, which means an overall investment of 2,717 MEUR.

Next Generation EU objectives

These 11 metropolitan projects are to be implemented through 34 actions aligned with the Next Generation EU objectives, that include projects to boost the metropolitan 5G strategy and promote the digitisation of the territory, projects to regenerate the green and blue infrastructure, a metropolitan plan to foster sustainable mobility, the electrification of the bus infrastructure and fleet, a metropolitan plan for urban restoration and regeneration, the improvement of the water network of the AMB, the promotion of renewable energies and energy efficiency, or singular projects like the Wood Production and Innovation Centre, and the production of biofertilisers and biowaste for metropolitan buses.

The Next Generation EU programme funds, which the European Union will grant to its member states, must serve as a strategy to overcome the crisis caused by the COVID-19. These funds, together with public and private financing, must allow to carry out a series of investments to transform and recover the territories after the effects of the pandemic.

The AMB, as a local administration with essential and core competences, can play an important role in the recovery of the metropolitan and national territory, and the impact of its actions would benefit and improve the life not only of the 3.2 million people who live in the metropolis but also of everyone who works there or uses its services, healthcare and cultural and tourist activities.

What are the Next Generation EU funds?

Faced with the unprecedented crisis caused by the pandemic, the EU has launched the Recovery and Resilience Funds to revive the economies (and quality of life) of the 27 member states. This fund, which totals 750,000 MEUR, is called Next Generation EU. For the first time in history, the EU has had to go into debt to secure this amount of resources.

The EU is distributing these funds on the basis of national plans submitted by the member states, and the end recipients are the public administration, other public actors and businesses. It specifies that all the projects that receive financing from the EU Next Generation funds must be clearly related to two fronts of improvement: the digital transition and the ecological and energy transition.

It also states that all the actions financed by these funds must be completed by 2026 at the latest.

In order to receive the funds, the Spanish government has drawn up a plan, known as the Plan España Puede (Spain Can Plan), with 10 "policy levers" related to the two main fronts set by the EU.

The total allocation of funds is 140,000 MEUR, 50 % of which (70,000 MEUR) will be distributed in the form of non-refundable transfers in the period 2021-2023 through public calls for proposals and other mechanisms that are still being defined. The remaining 50 % will be distributed in the form of loans.