Spain Grants Morocco €92 Million in Border Control Aid, Ryanair Tops List with €110 Million

Spanish aid to foreign countries and companies has taken an important turn since the arrival of Pedro Sanchez at La Moncloa in June 2018. Thus, despite tensions with Morocco, the latter has been one of the major beneficiaries of Spanish aid. Between 2019 and 2022, the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior received 92 million euros from the Spanish government to strengthen border control and effectively combat illegal immigration, reports The Objective.

As for Ryanair, it received 110.5 million euros in aid from the Spanish government during the reference period. Aid that would be justified by the air links between the Balearic and Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla and the subsidies planned for large families. These subsidies exceeded 46 million euros in 2019 and recorded a drastic drop in 2022 to settle at 277,500 euros.

During this period, more than 110,000 euros of these non-repayable subsidies were distributed to companies, public bodies, political parties, trade unions, NGOs, etc. In 2021, more than 34,100 Spanish public and private companies benefited from more than 24 billion euros in government aid.

In detail, Telefónica (203 million), Binter Canarias (187 million) and Iberia (123 million) are the biggest beneficiaries among private companies. As for public bodies, universities are the biggest beneficiaries, in particular the University of Valencia (365 million), the Polytechnic University of Valencia (307 million) and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (261 million).