Brussels – “Although the payment of pensions and other forms of current expenditure is not eligible under the RRF funds,”—that is, the resources from the Recovery Fund and the Recovery and Resilience Plans—”it is possible for Member States to temporarily use part of the liquidity from these RRF payments to cover other budget items.” Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President of the Committee on Cohesion and Reforms, commented on Spain’s alleged misuse of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the instrument at the heart of Next Generation EU, the recovery plan for the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, according to the Executive Vice-President, “such liquidity management operations by Member States are temporary and have no impact on the safeguarding of EU funds“.
Last week, the newspaper El Mundo published an article claiming to have obtained a list of budget amendments sent by the Ministry of Finance to the Congress of Deputies. These documents reportedly reveal that at least €8.5 billion will be diverted in 2025 to plug a gap in the pension system and fund social spending. Added to this is 2.4 billion reported by the Spanish Court of Auditors in 2024. “The Commission is aware of the issue,” explained Fitto, “and is examining the Spanish Court of Auditors’ report.” Furthermore, “the Commission verifies national control systems,” specified Fitto, “and can intervene in cases of fraud, corruption, or conflict of interest.”
Fitto made these comments yesterday (13 May) during the press conference to present the Passenger package. Meanwhile, the issue has sparked much controversy. Andreas Schwab, MEP for the Christian Democratic Union and Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, stated on Monday to El Mundo that “Member States have been granted a great deal of flexibility, perhaps too much.” Furthermore, according to Schwab, this is not a case of excessive flexibility, but “rather a use of funds that contravenes the regulations.” Pensions, he clarified, “are a fundamental obligation of every state and have never been part of the objectives of these funds.” The day before, Schwab posted on X a further comment on the matter: “If the European Parliament is asking for a larger budget for the EU Commission, then the use of funds must be managed properly. Otherwise, we lose credibility! And at the same time, the criteria for the next budget must also be very clear!”
Wenn das @Europarl_EN einen größeren Haushalt für die @EU_Commission verlangt, dann muss die Verwendung der Mittel „sauber“ verwaltet werden. Sonst werden wir unglaubwürdig! Und gleichzeitig müssen für den nächsten Haushalt auch die Kriterien sehr klar sein! #RRF @EPPGroup pic.twitter.com/ED4NSgqpOD
— Andreas Schwab @ASchwab.bsky.social (@Andreas_Schwab) May 11, 2026
From Madrid, the Spanish government has denied any wrongdoing, with the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, stating that the government has no “concerns” regarding the issues raised by the European Commission following the publication of the latest report by the Court of Auditors. Spain is the second-largest recipient of EU funds for post-pandemic recovery, having already received €60.5 billion in grants and €17.3 billion in loans. The accusations against the Spanish government are reigniting the debate on shared debt. Alice Weidel, the leader of Alternative für Deutschland, wrote on X that German taxpayers’ money “is funding socialist mismanagement in Europe.” Meanwhile, the Spanish People’s Party and Vox groups in the European Parliament have submitted formal questions to the Commission seeking clarification on the management of Next Generation funds in Spain.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
