The European Parliament is urgently demanding information from the Spanish government and the European Commission. The long-awaited report of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, which visited Spain this past February to audit the use of EU funds in our country, is about to be published. The draft report details the main conclusions of this visit and describes the meetings held with the different agents and members of the government.
The European Parliament reproached the government for not having responded to a request from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which in October formally requested collaboration and direct access to information on the management of EU funds for its possible investigations, and which at that time had not received a response.
Monika Hohlmeier, president of the European Parliament Delegation that visited Spain, said on Tuesday afternoon, during the debate held on the document, that she had “invited Ms Calviño to comment on the report and she has accepted”. “She even said that perhaps she could give us the latest figures on the payment of funds to update the report. We are still waiting,” Hohlmeier added.
“Calviño did not really tell us how much money has flowed into the economy. She gave us the data on transfers, but what we wanted to know is the actual disbursement, the payments that have been made to the final beneficiaries. We have had access to independent reports that speak of lower figures than those given by the government,” said Eva Poptcheva, a member of the European Parliament for Ciudadanos.
The chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Control Committee supported these words and reiterated the need to have the information. “There is data on the commitments, what has to be disbursed and for what, but we don’t know what has reached the economy. That is why I have asked Calviño to tell us how much money has gone to industry and has already been disbursed,” he said.
