The Diplomat
The Congress of Deputies spent 6,883,697.15 euros to cover deputies’ travel both outside and inside Spain in 2022, 18% less than in the previous year, which was special because it marked the return to normality once most of the restrictions due to the pandemic had been lifted and because it included the costs of hosting the Parliamentary Union assembly.
Specifically, by 2021 total travel expenditure had reached 8.1 million, compared to 2.8 million in 2020, when the coronavirus crisis broke out, international movements were suspended and the capacity of plenary sessions was reduced.
In 2021 the presence of deputies in Congress was normalised, although telematic voting was in force until the end of the year, but, in addition, Madrid hosted the 143rd General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) which was attended by thousands of parliamentarians whose travel expenses the House paid 3.78 million.
By 2022, international activity had fully recovered. According to data from Congress, collected by Europa Press, expenditure on international activities amounted to 2,741,319.91 euros. Compared to the 45 trips abroad in 2021, last year 135 trips were made outside the country, returning to pre-pandemic figures.
As usual, the most expensive were those of the Spanish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which meets four times a year in Strasbourg (France) and is one of the largest representations of the Cortes, which also includes senators. 259,452 euros were spent on trips to and from these meetings alone.
Two trips by Spanish representatives to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly also stand out: one to Vilnius (Lithuania) for the spring session (67,290.09 euros) and another to the United States, specifically to San Diego and San Francisco (47,009 euros).
International Commission travel
Likewise, 65,410.27 euros were paid to cover the travel of the Joint Committee (Congress-Senate) on National Security to Washington, where its members attended a parliamentary forum on intelligence and security, and another 53,592.26 euros for the Industry Committee to participate in Chile in a business forum between the two countries.
Of the total of 2.74 million euros allocated for ‘international activity’, 1.07 million euros were devoted to cover activities on national territory, but with foreign guests, travel of members of Congress outside the Chamber for parliamentary visits within the country or videoconferences.
These overall figures include only travel and accommodation expenses in the various destinations, but not the expenses of parliamentarians during their stay outside the country. Until 2017 those who participated in these trips received a daily allowance of 150 euros, but Congress replaced this amount with a system of payment of duly justified expenses.
800,500 euros to host the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
Activities organised by Congress to which parliamentarians from other countries were invited are also included in the financial information on the international activity of the House. The most expensive event was the annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which met in Madrid in November and cost 800,496.94 euros.
A further 92,430.11 euros went to pay for the 8th Polish-Spanish Parliamentary Forum, which took place in Burgos in July, while 27,201.68 euros were paid for travel expenses for the Croatian-Spanish Parliamentary Forum held in Madrid in May.
Also included in this section on the cost of international travel are 25 activities organised by the Congress in different Spanish cities, half of them without expenses and others that did involve an outlay. Among those that generated a cost is, for example, a trip to Barcelona to attend the Mobile World Congress of the Economic Affairs Committee (648.15 euros).
The turnover for travel within Spain amounted to 4,142,377.24 million euros in 2022, compared to 3,563,941.25 euros the previous year. In other words, spending on travel within Spain has increased by more than half a million euros, 13.96% more than in 2021.
Of this total figure, 2.85 million euros were used to pay for MPs’ travel between Madrid and their respective constituencies, known as travel for ‘parliamentary activity’. To this must be added the 364,266.26 euros spent on trips to attend political events – with the authorisation of their respective groups – and another 10,629.98 euros for official trips.
In total, they represent 3,230,550 euros, which is the cost that includes plane, train and bus tickets, as well as mileage allowance in private vehicles, but to this amount must be added the 911,827.24 euros that Congress has had to pay for management costs, cancellations and ticket changes.
In the documentation on international travel expenses, the Congress included 60 videoconferences held in Spain on this occasion. Of these, 42 were free of charge, but a further 17 required a total of 31,382.5 euros. The most expensive (10,500 and 10,757 euros respectively) were set up for two virtual courses of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation and the Congress.
