The PP asks the European Commission to know the real execution of the funds in Spain and to control that they reach the real economy

In its offensive, Montserrat is interested in "the money that reaches the final beneficiaries", which is what has an impact on the economy

MADRID, 3 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The PP has presented a battery of questions to the European Commission to find out the real execution of European funds in Spain in the face of the "lack of transparency" of the Government of Pedro Sánchez Brussels. Its objective is to streamline these funds and control that they reach the real economy, at a time when "inflation continues to skyrocket and the Spanish do not make it to the end of the month," according to the 'popular'.

The spokesperson for the PP in the European Parliament, Dolors Montserrat, and the MEP Isabel Benjumea, lead this parliamentary offensive to streamline European funds, a demand that the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has publicly demanded these weeks, and which is included in the economic plan that he sent to Moncloa a month ago.

The 'popular' consider that with inflation "shooting", the arrival and execution of these NetxGenerationEU funds is vital. Feijóo himself criticized last Tuesday before the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Spain's delay in executing European funds, during a meeting within the framework of the Congress of the European People's Party (EPP) in Rotterdam.

It is a complaint that his predecessor, Pablo Casado, also made in the past, although then the European Commission recalled that it has monitoring and compliance control mechanisms for the recovery funds that Spain will receive. In January 2022, both the Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, and the Economic Vice President, Valdis Dombrovski, then closed ranks with Spain and assured that the objectives were "met".

Montserrat pointed out that "inflation continues to skyrocket and Spaniards do not make it to the end of the month" and added that, faced with this situation, "European funds, together with tax cuts, are key to economic recovery".

According to the PP spokeswoman in Brussels, the Government of PSOE and United We Can "lacks management and has plenty of incompetence." "The objective of the Government must be to reduce the harsh effects of the crisis, and Sánchez's is not up to the task", she emphasized.

Specifically, the PP has presented a battery of six parliamentary questions to the European Commission about the execution of the funds in Spain. The first refers to the loans contemplated in the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, of which Spain will imminently request around 70,000 million euros, according to Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni. Before this announcement, the PP has asked the Commission if it has received "any progress on the new national recovery plan" that it is necessary to present to aspire to this financing.

In relation to the lack of participation in the management of the funds that the autonomous communities are denouncing, the PP wants to know if the Commission has received any information from the Spanish Government "about the consultations or work that it may be doing with local and regional authorities to such amendments and addenda.

In another matter, the PP alludes to the revision of the direct aids already assigned foreseen by the regulation of the funds for before June 30 of this year. The objective of the review is to update the forecasts based on the real GDP variation data and would affect 30% of the funds received, so that Spain could receive around 8,000 million euros more, according to statements by the Vice President of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis.

For this reason, the PP has asked if the Spanish Government has presented "to the Commission any progress on modifications to the national recovery plan to aspire to additional financing for direct non-reimbursable aid." In addition, also in this case, the popular have asked for the participation of local and regional authorities in this process.

In addition, the PP alludes to the "lack of transparency" of the Government on the actual execution of the funds and is interested in "the money that reaches the final beneficiaries and that is the one that really has an impact on the economy and its productive fabric ", since this figure "stopped being published by the General Intervention of the Public Administration on August 31, 2021". For this reason, he has asked the Commission if it has the execution data in Spain as of December 31, 2021 and April 30, 2022.

In another question, they recalled that, according to the latest budget execution data published by the General Intervention of the State Administration on April 30, 2022, Spain "would only have executed payments worth 1,587 million euros of the total of 28,025 million of definitive credits", so that "during the first quarter of the year it has only executed 5.66% of the total budgeted". For this reason, they have asked the European Commission for "final execution data in other Member States, which allow a comparison between countries in terms of the execution of the funds".

Finally, the MEPs have expressed their concern about the cohesion funds, since the Director General of European Funds of the European Commission, Marc Lemaître, has already expressed his concern in the past about Spain's delay in presenting the Association Agreement and sending programs.

For this reason, the PP has asked if "Spain has already signed the Association Agreement of the Structural and Investment Funds 2021-2027, necessary for the reception of these territorial cohesion funds" and if they consider that this delay "will considerably harm to the Autonomous Communities to manage and implement their projects".

Finally, the PP has requested that the funds destined to fight against depopulation, of which Spain has left 35% unexecuted, be invested directly in regional projects, with less administrative expense.