The European Commission reiterated this Wednesday before the European Parliament that budgetary transfers linked to the use of recovery funds to finance pensions in Spain "do not question the legal use" of the Union's aid, thus responding to doubts raised by two German MEPs after the Court of Auditors' report on the State's general accounts for 2024.
"They do not question the legal use of the 'NextGenerationEU' funds under EU legislation," state commissioners Raffaele Fitto, Valdis Dombrovskis, and Piotr Serafin in a letter sent to the 'popular' MEP and chairman of the European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee, Andreas Schwab, and to the Green MEP, Daniel Freund.
In the letter, the commissioners explain that "each payment request submitted by Spain has been thoroughly and transparently evaluated" and emphasize that "the Commission previously verified compliance with the corresponding milestones and targets before making the disbursements" linked to these European funds.
Brussels' response comes after both parliamentarians requested additional explanations regarding certain budgetary operations related to the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM) in Spain, following the observations of the supervisory body concerning the use of unused credits from the European recovery fund.
In its letter, the Commission admits that the Court considered that the legal basis for some budgetary transfers "should have been justified more thoroughly," but points out that these observations refer to procedural requirements contemplated in Spanish budgetary regulations.
The commissioners also highlight that, if the internal transfers made by Spain respected all current rules in its legal system, "it is, by its very nature, a matter of national responsibility."
Brussels also recalls that the regulation of the European recovery fund conditions payments on compliance with reforms and investments previously agreed with the Member States and maintains that the system includes "strict" controls to safeguard the financial interests of the Union and protect the money of European taxpayers.
The Commission also indicates that it has taken note of the concerns about transparency and underlines that its proposal for the next multiannual financial framework contemplates obliging Member States to collect and publish data on beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors receiving European funds.
On this point, Fitto already spoke out last week, when he publicly stated that the "temporary" use of liquidity from the European recovery fund to cover items such as pensions "has no impact" on the financial interests of the Union or on the functioning of the European mechanism.