The regional government of Cantabria has reissued the grant scheme for bars in municipalities at risk of depopulation (municipios en riesgo de despoblación) for 2026, with a total budget of €50,000 According to the notice published by the Consejería de Inclusión Social up to two businesses per municipality may receive grants this time. As last year, grants of up to €2,000 per bar are available to cover the previous year’s running costs, including water, electricity, gas, fuel, internet, television and subscription platform services.
The newly announced amount is considerably lower than the allocation made in 2025. In the programme’s first year, 100,000 euros was made available. At the time, the government announced the grant scheme through Orden ISO/11/2025 in the Boletín Oficial de Cantabria and included it in the framework of the recovery programme NextGenerationEU . The 2025 call was aimed at the village’s sole meeting place: only the only bar in each village was eligible.
Take-up in 2025 fell well short of the funding available. Official figures show that 15 applications were received; four failed to meet the requirement of being the only bar in the municipality, and one owner withdrew their application. In the end, ten grants were awarded: nine bars received the maximum of €2,000, while one payment amounted to €1,230. As a result, most of the €100,000 went unused.
The 2026 call now sets a lower total budget of €50,000, but expands the pool of potential beneficiaries in each municipality. The administration has retained the eligible costs and grant ceilings set out in the notice; the published documents do not explain why the overall budget has been reduced. Applications must be submitted to the Sede del Gobierno de Cantabria ; the legal basis for the grants refers to the programme criteria established the previous year.
Politically, the scheme forms part of Cantabria’s strategy to counter depopulation and social isolation in sparsely populated areas. During the debate, regional political figures called for higher grants per business to strengthen the economic foundations of these meeting places. Whether combining wider eligibility (up to two bars per municipality) with a reduced overall budget will boost demand in 2026 and use up all the funding remains an open question; there are no reliable forecasts.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).