The Governing Council approved this Friday, in an extraordinary meeting, the agreement between the Government of Aragon and the Government of Spain to articulate the Teruel Investment Fund (FITE)with the aim of promoting the economic development of the province of Teruel and correcting existing imbalances.
The agreement materializes a contribution of 73 million eurosfinanced 50 percent by both institutions, for the Teruel Investment Fund (FITE), this being the first year in which the increase in financing agreed in the bilateral meeting between the Government of Aragon and the Government of Spain is applied, at the request of the Aragonese president Jorge Azcón.
The agreement establishes an increase in annual contributions, which they go from 30 to 36.5 million euros by each administration and that during 2026 they will increase to 86 million euros. The agreement renews sustained cooperation between both administrations since 1992, aimed at correcting the structural imbalances that affect the province and promoting new employment opportunities and competitiveness.
This approval comes after last Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approves the credit transfers to the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory necessary to finance the FITE, an approval that had been claimed by the Aragonese Executive since last Marchmonth in which the first draft of the agreement was sent to the ministry.
As established in the agreement, The Government of Aragon is in charge of selecting bankable projectswhich must be approved before the end of fiscal year 2025 and will be presented soon. The standard sets a minimum cost of 125,000 euros per project and allows financing both individual actions and groups of actions with a common objective. The actions will have a deadline to be justified until December 31, 2028, according to Europa Press.
The agreement establishes eleven lines of action that will guide the selection of projects financed by FITE: support for the creation and improvement of transport infrastructure; support for the development and implementation of business initiatives in the industrial, agri-food and tourism fields; support for the creation of infrastructure for the establishment of companies, investments aimed at protecting and improving the environment; initiatives for the development of the information society and the improvement of telecommunications coverage; investments aimed at strengthening social cohesion in education, healthcare, public housing and social services.
It also contemplates the promotion of cultural initiatives; provision of social, sports or leisure facilities; support for the maintenance and development of strategic projects, including technological and space projects; specific projects for rural areas with depopulation problems and actions aimed at the recovery of democratic memory and the victims of the Spanish War.
The agreement also establishes the possibility of declaring strategic projects, as long as they exceed three million euros or, exceptionally, they prove having received more than six million in the three previous agreements. In addition, reserves part of the Fund’s endowment for the construction of educational and health infrastructuresand allows the modification, substitution or incorporation of new projects during their execution, always with a favorable report from the General Intervention.
