PREMIUM

  • CARLOS SEGOVIA

    @carlossegovia_

    Madrid

Updated Wednesday, 3November2021-22: 45

  • Share on Facebook

  • Share on Twitter

  • Send by email

Comment

  • Europe The European head of funds warns that a single failure in the promised reforms holds back EU money

  • Brussels analysis, faced with Sánchez's new request for funds: "We will see his reforms, but he is channeling Podemos"

The Government and the European Commission have already drafted the operational contract for the new European funds in an opaque way, as informed sources confirm to this newspaper. The content has already been agreed upon in the absence of the final official signature, according to the aforementioned sources and is known as

Operational Arrangement

. This is the necessary preliminary step for Spain to begin requesting the new

Next Generation

funds

after the advance of 9,000 million euros received last August.

The document contains the operational details of how Spain will be able to receive the up to 140,000 million planned until 2026 and is accompanied by annexes with the reforms to be carried out.

The Government is reluctant so far to make it public and has not even explained in Parliament what it wanted to include in the document before agreeing on it with Brussels, despite the fact that it transcends this legislature.

However, the sources consulted point out that the contract does not display new conditions for obtaining the money beyond those provided, although it does detail the method of monitoring and evaluation by Brussels.

This is the first document of this type that the European Commission has drawn up with a member state and it is a necessary contract and is foreseen in the Community regulation of the funds.

"The Member State and the European Commission shall specify by common agreement in operational provisions the provisions and schedule for monitoring and execution, the relevant indicators in relation to the fulfillment of the planned milestones and objectives, the provisions to facilitate the Commission's full access to the underlying data and, where appropriate, the milestones and additional objectives related to the payment of the loan, "says article 20.6 of the European regulation of February 12, 2021, which establishes the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.

Criticisms of the opposition

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and La Moncloa have prepared the document together with the European Commission with secrecy, without explaining in any parliamentary appearance, not even in the budget debate on Wednesday, the terms they wanted to agree with Brussels.

The leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, took for granted the agreement between the Government and Brussels and demanded this Wednesday that it be unveiled.

"If they do not make it public this week, we will go to the European Parliament and the European Commission to demand that it be published and we will make it public for all Spaniards."

This was expressed during his intervention in the debate on the General State Budgets for 2022.

The Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, did not reply and, although she did not give any details, she implicitly admitted that it is already more than advanced, because she announced that she is "finalizing the request for 10,000 million."

This is the first tranche of funds after the advance and this request is not possible without having previously agreed on the operational contract.

52 reforms

The European Commissioner for Economic Affairs,

Paolo Gentiloni

,

He could not yet sign it during his recent visit to Madrid on October 25 as it was not completed then, but it has already been agreed with the Government to be able to sign it remotely as soon as it is ready, as is the case now.

Once signed and to collect the money, the Government must certify 52 reforms in this section.

Gentiloni assured in a press conference in Madrid together with Vice President Nadia Calviño that he considered that most of them - they are not yet the most sensitive - are already implemented and the rest will be evaluated by the Commission for a week.

More problematic will probably be the next section in 2022, in which it will already have to present, among others, the labor reform.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • European Comission

  • Spain

  • Maria Jesus Montero

  • Pablo Casado

  • Pedro Sanchez

Politics The Government defends the decentralization of institutions in Madrid because "you have to share the State"

Spain The judge summons Irene Montero on the 27th for conciliation with Juana Rivas's ex, who asks him for 80,000 euros for calling him an abuser

European fund chief warns that a single failure in promised reforms holds back EU money

See links of interest

  • La Palma volcano

  • Last News

  • How to do

  • Translator

  • Holidays 2021

  • Christmas lottery

  • 2022 business calendar

  • Home THE WORLD TODAY

  • Events

  • Child Lottery

  • Master investigative journalism

  • Milan - FC Porto

  • Real Madrid - Shakhtar Donetsk

  • Borussia Dortmund - Ajax

  • Liverpool - Atlético de Madrid

  • Manchester City - Club Brugge