The Joint National Security Commission holds this Tuesday the appearance of the former president of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF), Cristina Herrero, whose mandate concluded last March 3. The still first vice-president and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, aspires to replace her with her current Secretary of State for Autonomous and Local Financing, Inés Olóndriz.
The Popular Group requested that Herrero appear both before this joint body of the Congress and the Senate and before the Upper House, where it has an absolute majority. But it was not the only party: Sumar also demanded that the former president appear before the Congress's Finance Committee after it became known that the socialist wing of the Executive intends to place a leader of its confidence in the presidency of AIReF.
Cristina Herrero Sánchez has been at the head of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility for six years, from March 3, 2020 to March 3, 2026. During that time, the body has promoted various in-depth reports, in many cases critical of the Government's actions, on issues such as sick leave, the Minimum Living Income (MLI) or the sustainability of the public pension system.
Defense of the independence of the AIReF
At the end of his term, Herrero questioned that the presidency of AIReF could fall to a figure coming directly from the political sphere and, a few days later, the Ministry of Finance proposed Inés de Olóndriz, current general secretary of Autonomous and Local Financing, to occupy that position.
The name of Olóndriz has already been submitted to the Council of Ministers, but his appointment now requires parliamentary approval: he must obtain an absolute majority in the Congress's Finance Committee or, if he does not achieve it, a simple majority in the homologous committee of the Senate.
Herrero, the former president of AIReF, out of the Treasury Committee
Given this scenario, PP and Sumar agreed in demanding Herrero's presence both in Congress and in the Senate. Finally, she will be heard in the Joint National Security Commission, where she will detail her management in relation to economic and financial security, considered a key area within National Security.
Sumar defended this appearance to know "first-hand" the main conclusions and lessons drawn by Herrero during his mandate, as well as the recommendations that derive from his experience at the head of the institution regarding the improvement of budgetary analysis and the design and evaluation of public policies.
On behalf of the PP, its spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, already urged to stop the Government from placing "a senior official from the Ministry of Finance" at the head of AIReF. The discomfort of the popular party members over the Executive's move reached Brussels, where they asked the European Commission to analyze whether Olóndriz's candidacy respects the independence requirements set by European Union regulations.