There is great tension between the Spanish government and the United States. European Parliament, few days before duty Budget Control Commission European institution to monitor how the European funds of the Next Generation EU are carried out. “We will go to Spain because the Government does not tell us where the bailout funds are,” said the German conservative, head of the European Parliament’s Budget Control Commission. Monika Hohlmeier In an interview with ABC newspaper. And the Spanish Executive responded this Thursday with a set of data to placate doubts and highlight that Spain has already resolved calls for help and tenders. New Generation Funds 23,000 million (out of 31,000 received so far) to finance more than 190,000 projects across the national region.
While first vice-president Nadia Calviño wanted to keep her stance this Thursday, the tension between the two parties is palpable: “It’s not surprising that the European Parliament came to Spain first, given that we are in the most advanced country.” In the implementation of European funds, the Minister of Economy presented this Thursday told Third Report on Execution of the Recovery Plan. Speaking of the positive reports from the European Commission, Calviño said, “The government is fully willing to cooperate with the European institutions. The implementation of the plan is marked by transparency, dialogue and good management of European resources.” According to data provided by Calviño and Finance Minister María Jesús Montero, Spain accelerated the implementation rate of European funds to an average of 2,000 million per month in 2022; This average has risen to over 9,000 million in January 2023, which is one-third of the total planned investment from European funds for 2023.
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In a letter signed by Calviño and Montero this Monday, the Spanish Government wanted to convey this message of efficiency and transparency to Hohlmeier. In the letter made available by Reuters agency and eldiario.es, it was noted that the European Court of Auditors’ positive assessment of the initial disbursement of funds “reflects its commitment to diligence and control”. Hohlmeier, however, criticized the leak of the letter to Spanish media this Thursday and urged Calviño to facilitate his mission of controlling EU funds, as summarized by the agencies Efe and Europa Press.
“We want to know why there is a serious enforcement and transparency issue,” PP MEP told EL PERIÓDICO of the Prensa Ibérica group. Isabella BenjumeaHe proposed that the delegation, which will arrive in Spain, will be accompanied by placing the budget control work within “democratic normality”. “The question isn’t how much they spend, but how much they spend to pay the bills,” says Benjumea.
Mission members and agenda
The delegation to visit Spain consists of Germans Monika Hohlmeier (from the European People’s Party), People’s Member of Parliament for Portugal Jose Manuel Fernandessocialists isabella garcia (Spain) and Caterina Chinnici (Italy) and Jorge Buxade (Vox). The Spanish government is skeptical of the conservative biases of the members of this ‘men in black’ mission to land in Spain.
They will also travel to Spain as a companion and unable to contribute to the preparation of the final report. Isabella Benjumea (PP), Eider Gardiazabal (PSOE), Eva Poptcheva, Susana Solis (both from Citizens) and Ernest Urtasun (Catalonia in Comú). As ‘observers’, two representatives from the European Court of Auditors and the European Commission are expected to attend.
The mission’s meeting agenda includes meetings with regional councilors from Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Aragon, Andalusia and Extremadura. Also meetings with representatives of CEOE, Anfac, Spanish Chamber, ATA, Digitales, Adigital, Ametic, AEB and UGT-Fica. In addition, interviews were planned with four journalists from El País, El Mundo, ABC, The Objective and Follow the Money, as well as partners from the consulting firms E&Y and PWC. On the government side, Vice President Calviño and the Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Montero and with Social Security Minister José Luis Escrivá.
For PP MEP Pilar Benjumea, the purpose of the mission is twofold. On the one hand, she explains, it will be the first time that the European Parliament will evaluate the design of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. “This first analysis will be done in Spain because we were the first to request transfers and we got the most money. Then the rest of the EU members will visit.” Secondly, the delegation will try to examine “how European money in Spain’s accounts is used”.