Carmen Navarro. c.navarro@uam.es
University Autonoma Madrid
Moneyba González. moneyba.gonzalez@uam.es
University Autonoma Madrid
Luis Augusto Vera. c.navarro@uam.es
University Autonoma Madrid
The paper focuses on the implementation of Next Generation Funds at the local level of government in Spain. It analyzes the processes that municipalities go through in the implementation of the projects funded. The arrival in Spain of Next Generation EU (NextEU) funds for post-crisis recovery has been a unique opportunity to relaunch the country’s progress and welfare. And, at the same time, Spain represents a case with a poor track record in the absorption of European funds. In particular, local governments have been complaining of being subjected to bureaucratic burdens and an overabundance of controls that slows down their action and threatens the efficiency of the processes involved (González Medina and Navarro, 2022). This pattern is worrying given that the municipal administration is a potential recipient of a large number of funds, hence the importance of analyzing the conditions in which municipalities face the processes of implementing European Funds. The paper is a product of an ongoing research that attempts to answer the question “What factors influence the effective execution of Next Generation funds at the local level?” and takes as variables of analysis actors, interactions among them, processes and institutional capacity (Navarro and González Medina, 2023). It is based on the analysis of official databases, as well as its own data obtained from interviews and questionnaires applied in a sample of municipalities in the Community of Madrid. Medina, M. G., & Navarro, C. (2022). Institutional capacity and public procurement. Experiences of informal organizational learning in local government. Public Policy Management and Analysis, (29), 88-102.Navarro, C., & Medina, M. G. (2023). Institutional capacity for the absorption of European funds in municipalities. In Governance and territorial administrations for the next generation (pp. 141-163). National Institute of Public Administration (INAP).