The management of funds from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM), intended for post-COVID recovery, has proven challenging for the Government of the Canary Islands. Out of a total allocation of 1.727 billion euros for the 2021-2026 period, only 55% of these resources, or 944 million euros, had been justified by August 2025.
The remaining 42%, approximately 728 million euros, remains unspent. This figure is in addition to 55 million euros that have already been returned to the State. The Ministry of Finance and Relations with the European Union, led by Matilde Asián of the PP, has acknowledged that, beyond the 55 million already returned, another 150 million euros are expected to be returned. These funds correspond to allocations that managing departments will not be able to execute before August 31, 2026.
The forecast of surplus due to impossibility of execution means that the Government of the Canary Islands intends to spend 578 million euros (out of the 728 budgeted) before August 31, 2026, a figure it has never achieved before.
This situation is reflected in the low execution levels of previous years; for instance, in 2025, out of the 835 million euros budgeted in RRM funds, only 276 million were executed, representing 33% of the total, according to data from the Ministry of Finance itself. The deadline for justifying these funds is August 31, 2026, unless an extension is secured from the EU, particularly for interventions in ecological transition and energy, which account for 531 million euros.
These figures were provided by the regional government in a written response dated April 1, 2026, addressed to the parliamentary group of Nueva Canarias (NC)-Bloque Canarista. Although the official forecast is an additional 150 million to be returned, some calculations, such as those by Nueva Canarias, estimate that the total return could amount to 328 million euros, or even up to 500 million, representing 30% of the total allocation for the islands.
