National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Spain

Abstract

Although still carrying substantial deficits from the 2008 housing crisis, Spain’s economy was experiencing a gradual recovery prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. This drastically changed with the health-care emergency, leaving Spain among the hardest hit Member States in the EU. The financial assistance provided by the EU in the context of the NextGenerationEU recovery plan represents a golden opportunity, not only to invest in the areas most affected by the pandemic, but perhaps more importantly, to target prevailing deficiencies in the Spanish economy and make it more resilient to future threats. This contribution studies the National Recovery and Resilience Plan presented by Spain to access the NGEU financial support. It focuses particularly on the social and labour reforms presented therein and puts these in the broader context of the EU governance and political framework. The contribution concludes with some final considerations.