The European Commission has given a partial green light to Spain’s sixth payment request worth €5.7 billion under the EU’s post-pandemic recovery programme NextGenerationEU, with some funds still on hold pending further checks.
The money is requested through the Recovery and Resilience Facility — the EU funding scheme that pays out when member states meet agreed reforms and investment targets — and Spain submitted its sixth request on 3 March 2026, the Commission noted in a release on Thursday.
Spain has satisfactorily completed 51 “milestones” and 22 out of 25 “targets” linked to this payment request, the Commission said.
Measures tied to the request include changes to the regulatory framework for housing construction, steps to strengthen the health system including establishing a State Agency for Public Health, and investments linked to sustainable mobility.
The assessment also covers work to improve digital systems on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) railway network — an EU-wide network of key transport corridors — including measures aimed at reliability, sustainability and cybersecurity.
Some funds remain linked to unfinished targets
Alongside the sixth request, the Commission said it has cleared payment for two milestones that had been suspended under Spain’s fifth payment request, adding €25 million for a previously partially fulfilled milestone on the digitalisation of regional and local entities and proposing to lift a substantial part of a suspended amount tied to a taxation milestone worth an additional €277 million.
Three targets under the sixth request are still outstanding, relating to investments in bilingual vocational training, telecare services, and projects supporting vulnerable groups, entrepreneurship and micro-enterprises.
Spain plans to submit a “reasoned request” to amend those targets to clarify what evidence is needed to prove the investments have been implemented, while keeping the measures’ objectives unchanged.
The Commission has sent its preliminary assessment to the Economic and Financial Committee, which has four weeks to give an opinion, and payment can follow after that and a formal Commission payment decision.
Funds already paid to Spain under the Recovery and Resilience Facility would reach €76 billion if the latest request proceeds, including €11 billion in pre-financing.
