The Government made a mistake in 7,000 million in one of the two key data monitored by the European Commission to examine whether the budgetary plans of the Member States comply with the rules of the euro.

This has been detected by both the European Commission and the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) in the budget plan sent by the acting Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño , to Brussels on October 15.

The document, prepared by the Ministries of Finance and Economy assures the European Commission that it plans to raise spending 5.1% in 2020 when the limit requested by Brussels is an increase of 0.9% maximum. This percentage implies raising spending by 7,000 million more and would devote Spain as the country that largely skips the spending rule of the entire Eurozone, above Belgium, which poses above 4% .

However, the services of the European Commission detected that the Government had misapplied the computable expense calculation formula for the examination and took 5.1% for granted . They redid the calculation and quantified the rise by 3.8%, also excessive, but not so brutal. That made the letter sent by Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Pierre Moscovici last 22 to Minister Calviño, criticizing the increase in spending was not even harder.

AIReF also detected the failure in its review of the Government's budget plan and corrected it to a 3.6% increase. "The Treasury has told us that 5.1% is a typo," say AIReF sources.

In the document sent to Brussels, the Government states: “According to the calculation of the Expenditure Benchmark based on the methodology of the European Commission in the inertial scenario, the computable net nominal public expenditure would increase 3.5% in 2019 and in 2020, the 5.1% ». In a chart attached to the same document, the Government specifies the aforementioned increase in spending in 2020 of 5.1%, which would mean raising it to 507,000 million, instead of the 499,600 provided by the Treasury .

The Ministry has explained to the AIReF that the amount it expects to spend is 499,600. The tax agency attributes the errata to which the Ministry made the percentage since the expense of 2018 (475,200 million) and not on which it had to be applied in 2019 (482,100 million) triggering examiners' alarms in Madrid and Brussels.

Dombrovskis and Moscovici argue in any case that the 3.8% increase also deviates from the 0.9% that was communicated to Calviño last July in the recommendation for Spain. It asks the Government to take measures to "guarantee" containment of spending to reduce the structural deficit by about 7.8 billion in 2020.

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  • European Comission
  • Spain
  • European Union
  • Nadia Calviño
  • Madrid
  • Belgium
  • Public deficit
  • minimum salary

Budgets from Brussels to the Government: the spending rate is four times the recommended maximum

Macroeconomics The new government must make an adjustment of 6.7 billion in 2020 to comply with the EU

Budgetary Plan The Government disputes the rapa dust of Brussels: "There is no expenditure triggered" and "it is not a scolding"