The Government must redirect the execution of European funds

The president of the Commission of Budgetary Control of the European Parliament makes today in our pages a devastating balance on the execution of the Next Generation funds in Spain that should lead the Government to redirect its management of community aid.

In her supervisory role, Monika Hohlmeier shows a concern, which we make ours, about

or about the reluctance that she sees in Nadia Calviño, María Jesús

Montero and José Luis Escrivá when it comes to increasing transparency.

It is a concern that should push the Government to correct the path taken so far, especially since Spain will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU since July.

The European Commission needs the execution of the funds to work in Spain, with its promoter, Ursula von der Leyen, at the helm.

During the pandemic, a certain laxity has prevailed when it comes to controlling its distribution, but the situation has changed and so has the requirement.

Spain, with the promise of 160 million euros, is together with Italy the Member State that has received the greatest solidarity and

.

Hohlmeier's words, however, express a growing malaise in the European Parliament.

So far we know that of the amount transferred - more than 37,000 million - only 23,000 million have been tendered, but the Government has not provided the data on the actual execution of these funds, that is, how much money has arrived and to which companies.

To this we must add that bureaucratic procedures and the lack of specialized personnel have resulted in a bottleneck in the granting of subsidies, also entrenched by insufficient co-governance with the CCAAs.

The biggest fear of the Spanish business fabric is that these deficiencies prevent aid from reaching SMEs.

Brussels has placed its trust in an Executive that is not responding sufficiently: neither with due transparency -there is no clear publicity of the distribution mechanisms nor of the final recipients of the aid-, nor with the

-the reform of pensions and the tax are aground -, nor with the fight against corruption -the crime that punishes the fraudulent use of public funds has been lowered-.

The official visit related to European funds has also coincided with the trip to Spain by the Community Commission on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

The parliamentary delegation has verified the obvious risks and gaps in the law of the

and has denounced its reservations regarding the Trans Law, in a new questioning of the work of the Government.

President Pedro Sánchez has the confidence of Brussels, which is good for Spain, but that confidence may start to crack.

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