The Tribunal Supremo has overturned the state’s settlement for the former toll motorway R-2 and ordered the Ministerio de Transportes to recalculate the final compensation without further delay. Under the judgment dated 8 October 2026, both the first decision by the Consejo de Ministros in 2023 and a supplementary assessment from 2025 are null and void. Both provisional calculations resulted in a negative settlement, meaning that no compensation was to be paid to the concessionaire so far.
At the heart of the dispute is the so-called Responsabilidad Patrimonial de la Administración (RPA), or the state’s obligation to pay compensation when a concession ends. According to the government, the RPA had provisionally been calculated at around minus €50 million, mainly because of projected future maintenance investments and expropriation costs from the construction phase borne by the state. The Tribunal Supremo criticises the years-long delay in reaching a final assessment and calls for a recalculation in line with the criteria established by the court in previous judgments.
The R-2, one of the radial motorways around Madrid, was taken over by the state in 2018 after its operator became insolvent. Since then, settlement and review procedures have been under way for several toll roads that failed during the financial crisis. Companies including ACS, Abertis, Acciona and Globalvía were involved in the R-2 concession at the time. The judgment now requires the administration to determine the definitive amount of compensation. The court leaves open whether the final outcome will be a state payment to the former concessionaire or a remaining negative balance for the state; the determining factors are the legal requirements and a transparent, updated valuation methodology.
The ministry published the supplementary calculation in 2025 as part of a formal procedure. However, the Tribunal Supremo makes clear that provisional calculations do not remove the obligation to reach a final decision promptly. This increases the time pressure on the Ministerio de Transportes to set the RPA transparently, taking account of investment needs, residual values, expropriation costs and payments already made. Depending on the outcome of the recalculation, the correction could have significant budgetary consequences, while creditors and former operators are pressing for clarity on outstanding claims.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).