European funds extended for the third time: the Islands will have five more months to implement 95 tourism projects
The deadline for the Next Generation agreements is extended for the third time due to the administrative difficulties faced by local councils.
PalmThe Balearic Islands will have another five months to complete projects funded with €100 million from European funds. The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez, and the Minister of Tourism, Jaume Bauzá, announced the extension of the agreements at a press conference, noting that administrative delays, particularly at the local council level, have hampered the implementation of all the investments. This is the third extension approved since the European Commission set the start and end dates for the projects in December 2023.
![Els fons europeus arribats a les Balears es xifren en 1.014 milions d’euros](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 9"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
"This expansion is yet another example of the institutional collaboration and support that the State Secretariat for Tourism has consistently provided to the Balearic Government, the island councils, and the municipalities to make the most of a unique opportunity like the Next Generation EU funds," said Sánchez. The investment, approved to counteract the effects of the pandemic, amounts to one hundred million euros, allocated to the Islands because they are considered a key driver of tourism in Spain. The 100 million euros received by the Islands are part of a total investment of 287.5 million euros that the Ministry of Industry and Tourism has directed to the Islands through the Recovery Plan. The Balearic Government has allocated 95 strategic projects to these funds, aimed, as Bauzá explained, at transforming the tourism model. These initiatives include the purchase of outdated hotels for conversion, subsidies for hotels to install adjustable beds (making it easier for cleaning staff) and improve their energy efficiency, and a wide range of municipal projects to revitalize urban spaces, modernize public services, upgrade basic infrastructure, and develop new cultural facilities. The majority of the funds, 70 million euros, are specifically earmarked for projects submitted by local councils.
