The Diplomat
The chair of the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee, German MEP Monika Hohlmeier, has urged First Vice-President and Minister for Economic Affairs Nadia Calviño to facilitate the EU spending control mission to Madrid from 20-22 February, while criticising her for having leaked a letter sent to her by the minister on 13 February.
“It is surprising that the letter was released to the press very shortly after I received it and before the members of the Commission and myself had the opportunity to take note of its contents,” she said in a critical letter sent on Wednesday, to which Europa Press had access.
The MEP’s reprimand follows a first letter sent by Calviño in which the Vice-President stressed that “the deployment of the Recovery Plan is subject to the highest standards of audit and control” while reviewing some of the main investments of the plan and offering “full support and cooperation” of the Spanish authorities with the parliamentary mission.
“I am sure she did not intend to anticipate the conclusions of the mission before it has started,” Hohlmeier said in her reply on Thursday, in which she also asked for the minister’s support to “facilitate” a meeting, which “unfortunately” has not yet materialised, with the former director general in charge of the implementation of the Spanish recovery plan in 2021, Rocío Frutos, who was dismissed last October and taken over by Jorge Fabra.
The aim of the mission of the Budgetary Control committee is to assess the implementation of Spain’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, including milestones and targets and, in particular, the management, audit and control systems in place.
The delegation visiting Spain – the first country to receive a payment in 2021 and which has already paid out ¤31 billion – from 20-22 February will be made up of 10 MEPs from various political groups, six of whom are members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control.
In particular, along with Monika Hohlmeier, who is leading the delegation, a group of MEPs, mostly Spanish: Isabel Benjumea (PP), Isabel García Muñoz and Eider Gardiazábal (PSOE), Eva María Poptcheva and Susana Solís (Cs), Ernest Urtasun (En Comú Podem) and Jorge Buxadé (Vox).
In addition to the meeting with Calviño, the agenda includes meetings with the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, and the Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, as well as with the heads of the Recovery Plan, the audit and anti-fraud offices, the regional councillors of Andalusia, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Aragón, and various business organisations, trade unions, banks and specialised journalists.
The Committee on Budgetary Control, made up of 30 MEPs, is one of the European Parliament’s 20 standing committees and its task is to monitor how the EU budget has been spent and to make proposals to improve its management.
