The president of the Court of Auditors, Enriqueta Chicano, insisted this Thursday in Parliament that no diversion of resources from the Recovery Plan has occurred to pay "any payment from any Social Security service" such as pensions.
The auditing body published on May 5 a report on the General State Accounts for 2024, which indicated that the Government resorted in November of that year to 2,389.4 million euros from unused credits from European funds to cover passive class pensions and minimum pension supplements, due to the lack of budgetary credit derived from the annual extension of public accounts in force since 2023.
Chicano appeared this Thursday before the Joint Commission for relations with the Court of Auditors to explain several auditing reports to Congress and the Senate, although the one relating to the General State Accounts was not on the agenda, despite the PP having registered a request to reorder the session and include that document.
Groups demand explanations from Chicano
Although the General State Accounts for 2024 were not scheduled, opposition groups took advantage of their interventions to address this matter, which led the president to offer a clarification: "I categorically tell you that European funds have not been used for any payment from any Social Security service."
After recalling that the European Commission has emphasized from Brussels that "they do not question the legal use" of community aid, Enriqueta Chicano added that in the aforementioned report, neither in the concurring opinions nor in the dissenting opinion (against), is it maintained that there has been a diversion of European funds.
"The day I present the General Accounts, we will talk more slowly about this matter, but, rest assured that European funds have not been used for payments that were not appropriate," concluded the head of the auditing body.
The report detailed that, due to the lack of budgetary credit to meet "unavoidable" pension commitments for passive classes and minimum pension supplements, the Executive authorized two modifications in November 2024 for a total of 2,389.4 million euros, financed with remaining funds from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, understanding that they did not jeopardize the fulfillment of the Recovery Plan or the absorption capacity of European funds.
The Court also pointed out that this decision by the Government was based on legal grounds "that should have been better justified," as the body perceives "uncertainty" as to whether the restrictions on the use of surplus European funds credits to cover budgetary modifications unrelated to said service were applicable in 2024.