The government appears to be calmly incorporating recommendations aimed at raising the quality of public spending, according to AIReF, the Independent Financial Responsibility Authority. AIReF analyzed a set of 277 offers and identified that the first spending review covering the 2018-2021 period resulted in the government accepting about 100 proposals amounting to 90 billion euros, which accounted for roughly 27 percent of the total and impacted nearly 22 billion euros in spending. New data released by AIReF on the latest Wednesday show that the government has decided to disregard 23 additional recommendations totaling around 3.24 billion euros. Data from AIReF indicate there are 154 further improvement proposals still under consideration by the government. These figures illustrate the ongoing tension between recommended reforms and policy choices in the expenditure process.
The government has followed through on some recommendations, including tightening the contribution cuts to pension plans. Among those rejected, officials cite reasons such as insufficient authority to merge the Cercanías rail system with other urban and inter-urban transport modes, or political considerations as stated by the mayor during a press briefing. AIReF’s Public Expenditure Evaluation Division, led by José María Casado, notes that in this category the government’s decision to refrain from reformulating the current subsidy mechanism for air transport serving archipelago residents suggests a deliberate move to prevent airlines from embedding certain costs into their margins. AIReF emphasizes that the objective is to ensure transparency and accountability in the allocation of public funds, even when the government later decides to proceed in a different direction.
In addition to the 100 proposals advanced by AIReF and the 23 that the government accepted or rejected, AIReF reports that 154 proposals remain in progress. AIReF president Cristina Herrero highlights the importance of the government giving careful consideration to the organization’s recommendations within policy design, even when the government chooses not to adopt them outright for reasons it deems valid. The current state is described as a process in progress rather than a completed turnaround.
More commitment requests
During a recent briefing, Cristina Herrero, head of AIReF, called for a genuine commitment from the government to evaluate the quality of spending in public policy, specifically focusing on effectiveness and efficiency. Herrero pointed out that comprehensive reports on spending quality, commissioned by the government, have tended to be less frequent despite the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan’s commitment to sustaining these analyses. She also questioned the disappearance of cross-cutting policy analyses in recent government commissions, including health spending managed alongside autonomous municipalities. Herrero urged that momentum not be lost and urged policymakers to maintain a steady focus on analyzing cross-cutting policies such as health care and social services.
At the briefing, AIReF unveiled a new interactive computing tool called the Observatorio de Hallazgos y Recomendaciones. This tool is designed to monitor, adjust, or reset the recommendations aimed at improving the quality of spending in government programs. The platform represents a practical step toward greater transparency and enables ongoing assessment of how recommendations influence policy outcomes. It helps decision-makers see where reforms are succeeding and where adjustments may be necessary.
AIReF’s data show that in the initial two waves of the expenditure review for 2018-2021, spending blocks were large and varied, with substantial allocations in areas such as tax benefits, subsidies, and transportation infrastructure. In the earlier phases, blocks ranged from tens of billions of euros across categories like tax benefits and subsidies, to smaller sums tied to hospital pharmacy and employment policies. In the later waves, the review shifted focus toward financial mechanisms supporting internationalization, municipal waste management, and productive sectors, alongside other financial instruments intended to support reciprocity. Herrero explained that in the forthcoming phases of the second expenditure review, covering 2022-2026, AIReF will examine guarantees tied to loan schemes and covid-era credits, in line with the action plan approved by the government. The aim is to sustain ongoing accountability for public spending as the policy landscape evolves and new instruments are introduced to respond to emerging economic needs.