Aragon's fast-track permits have helped attract more than €60 billion ($67.55 billion) in planned data centre and digital infrastructure investment over the next decade. Critics say quicker approvals can curb public and environmental scrutiny.
Aragon offers qualifying projects expedited planning decisions, help with land expropriations, local tax breaks and a one-stop investor service. Its Project of General Interest status can cut approval times from years to under 12 months.
Amazon Web Services is investing €33.7 billion in cloud services and AI infrastructure in the region, while Microsoft plans to invest up to €10 billion. Aragon has fast-tracked more than a dozen large data centre projects for Amazon, Microsoft and others.
Critics say the process can weaken public and environmental accountability. The public had 23 days to review about 25,000 pages of Amazon project documentation, and an environmental group has challenged the fast-track approval in court. Spain's central government has drafted tougher water and electricity rules for data centres; Amazon and Microsoft said their regional plans remain unaltered.
