The Spanish political disputes tense the mission of the European Parliament on the Recovery Plan

A dozen members of the European Parliament - among them, seven Spaniards - will arrive in Madrid this Monday to supervise the execution and control of the use of the funds granted to Spain within the Recovery and Resilience Plan approved by the European Union to respond to the economic consequences of the covid.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
16 February 2023 Thursday 22:28
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The Spanish political disputes tense the mission of the European Parliament on the Recovery Plan

A dozen members of the European Parliament - among them, seven Spaniards - will arrive in Madrid this Monday to supervise the execution and control of the use of the funds granted to Spain within the Recovery and Resilience Plan approved by the European Union to respond to the economic consequences of the covid. The gestation of the mission, routine and alien to the audits of the European Commission, has been seen from the first moment seriously marked by national disputes.

Some points of the program, from the request of the popular Europeans to see the official who managed the Plan and resigned alleging personal reasons, Rocío Frutos; to the interviews with private consultants linked to the PP (this is how they internally justified the proposal to see Juan Pablo Riesgo or Pablo Zalba) or the list of journalists with whom they will meet behind closed doors, have generated tense discussions in Brussels, in addition to fears both in the Government as the community executive due to the possible politicization of the exercise.

Why Spain? Being the first has its advantages and its risks. In December 2021, it became the first EU country to receive a payment from Next Generation EU funds after Brussels concluded that it had met the required objectives to collect the first tranche of aid, some 10,000 million euros. That success led to the fact that, when the budgetary control commission (CONT) of the European Parliament began to prepare its report on the budget discharge for 2021, it set its sights on Spain and decided to send a mission to Madrid.

The initiative came from the president of this commission, the German conservative Monika Holmeier, who will lead the delegation. The preparations have caused tense epistolary exchanges between the Government and Holmeier, who accuses the economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, and the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, of trying to "anticipate" the conclusions of her visit, "passing the responsibility of the success from the plan to the regions” and assume that you are not going to Spain with an open mind.

Faced with the apathy that the initiative generated among MEPs from other countries (the Liberal group did not send anyone, Identity and Democracy annulled their request, and the European Conservatives and Reformists did not intend to go), among the Spanish there have been nudges to participate. At one point, there were more volunteers to go as companions than as starters. The problem has been solved with the decision of Jorge Buixadé (Vox), to request in extremis, this Monday, his entry into the CONT commission with the declared objective of participating in the mission.

The final list of participants includes two members of the EPP (Holmeier and the Portuguese José Manuel Fernandes), two socialists (Isabel García, from the PSOE, and the Italian Caterina Chinnici), as well as Buixadé (Vox, ECR). The five companions, who exercise observer functions, will be Spanish: Pilar Benjumea (PP), Eider Gardiazábal (PSOE), Susana Solís (C's), Eva Poptcheva (C's) and Ernest Urtasun (En Comú Podem).

On the two occasions in which it has evaluated the requests for funds from Spain, the leadership of the European Commission has expressed itself in laudatory terms about the deployment of the Spanish plan (("Spain is in the lead", "there is evidence that the money it is reaching the real economy"). Brussels sets it as an example for other countries and its technicians, who have held a preparatory meeting with the members of the CONT commission, have explained why they consider that they have made the reforms and investments to those who are payments were conditional. Holmeier, however, has given several interviews in which he insinuates that the government is hiding information. "We don't know where the funds are, that's why we're going to Spain," the German told OKDiario.

“That is not the case, but we are not going for that, we are going to see how the money is being invested and how spending is controlled. We are not going to criticize the content of the plan either, that has already been approved, ”García (PSOE), vice president of the parliamentary commission, is indignant. "We are not the men in black," insists the Aragonese deputy, alluding to the image that is being given in Spain about her work.

Parliamentary sources positively highlight the high profile that Spain has given to the visit, but some deputies have complaints. Unlike other missions, in which they are received by officials and , the Government has made Vice President Calviño and Ministers Montero (Finance) and José Luis Escrivá (Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations) available to them, in addition to representatives from five autonomous communities (Castilla-La Mancha, Madrid, Extremadura, Andalusia and Aragon).

The cancellation of the appointment with the head of Industry, Reyes Maroto, as well as the session on projects on the electric car, scheduled for Wednesday, "is not acceptable," complains Solís (C's). "It was one of the most important parts of the program, a topic on which Spain has asked for more time, and suddenly it disappears" from the program, condemns the deputy, who criticizes the "triumphalism" of the Government and the EC when assessing the arrival of funds for the real economy and SMEs, as well as coordination with the autonomous communities.

One of the issues that has generated the most fights is the selection of journalists who will meet before the general press conference. They have confirmed their presence Carlos Segovia (El Mundo), Carmen Obregón (The Objective) and Marcos García Rey (Follow The Money); Antonio Maqueda (El País) and Bruno Pérez (ABC) have not guaranteed their participation, according to the last program of the visit. “It strikes me that what worries the PSOE the most is the meeting with journalists. In the missions it is common for there to be meetings with civil society”, affirms Benjumea (PP). "We are going to verify that every last cent that comes out of the European budget is spent properly" and "see if there is anything that can be improved" in the design of the plans and their control. "There is nothing more patriotic than worrying that money is well spent."

Holmeier, on the other hand, has also maintained a tense exchange of letters with the Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, and the Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, following the sending of a report on the execution of the Spanish plan (“Spain is ahead”, “there is evidence that money is reaching the real economy” and communities, “execution is accelerating”...). The German has described her responses as "superficial" and warns that in the absence of a satisfactory reply to her questions ("what happens to the money between the time it is transferred to the State and when it is used to make investments", who are the beneficiaries? ...) the 2021 budget discharge would run "unnecessary risks".

Regarding the mission itself, the position of the European Commission is one of total respect for the European Parliament, although it carries out its own audits of the plan and already sent some inspectors to Spain last year. "We support any initiative that increases transparency about the Recovery Plan," says Veerle Nuyts, spokesman for the Economy of the community executive, who recalls that the organization of these missions "is a prerogative of the EP budget control committee" and that the Commission, which will send a senior official as an observer, has helped with the preparations. Both want to trust that Holmeier will fulfill what was promised in his letter to Calviño: "The mission will be carried out in a non-politicized way and based on the facts," he maintains.