Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, December 16th, and this is your FT news briefing.

Big companies in Spain are vying for funds the EU set aside for the pandemic recovery effort.

The UK wants to beef up its position as a shipping registration hub after Brexit and

online brokers are trying to figure out how to hold on to the new customers they picked up during the pandemic.

Plus, Britain plans to build another nuclear power plant off England's East Coast.

How does this mesh with its goals to go carbon neutral in the next 30 years, we'll take a look.

I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

Last week, the EU agreed to a seven-year budget and a 750 billion euro

coronavirus recovery fund. At the top of the list of countries that will receive a

big chunk of the recovery fund is Spain, one of the countries hardest hit by

the pandemic. Its GDP is

expected to contract by more than 11% this year and the country will get about

72 billion euros in EU grants between 2021 and 2023.

But some of the Spanish companies applying for the fund

are among the country's biggest.

Blue Chips, including Telecom's company Telephonica,

the Volkswagen subsidiary Sayat,

and the Renewable Energy Group Eberdrola want to throw their hats in the ring.

They're doing this by trying to get included in a government registry.

Groups on this registry will get preferential consideration for carrying out projects

and receiving subsidies. Telephonica is proposing the funds be used to help make

Spain the first country in the EU block with 100% fiber optic coverage.

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