The Diplomat
The Government foresees a 19.7 percent increase in the foreign policy and development cooperation budget in the draft General State Budget (PGE) approved yesterday by the Extraordinary Council of Ministers.
Specifically, it is planned to allocate 2,254 million euros in 2022 to this section, included in what is considered as “basic public services”, compared to the 1,882 million planned in 2021, according to the data published by Moncloa, which has not explained the reason for this sharp increase, reports Europa Press.
Of this amount, only 0.5 percent of the total will come from European funds, a figure slightly higher than the 0.4 percent in the previous year.
As for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation itself, which is largely responsible for foreign policy and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), its budget allocation has also increased.
Thus, according to the draft PGE agreed between PSOE and Podemos, the department headed by José Manuel Albares will have 1,543 million euros next year, compared to 1,443 million euros in 2021, which represents an increase of 13.6 percent. Already in 2021 there was an increase of 19.7 percent.
Of this total, 1.495 billion comes from the national coffers while the remaining 48 million is part of the European Union funds.
