The European Commission considers it 'desirable' for Spain to approve its public accounts on time, but will not take measures against the country for the fourth consecutive year without General Budgets. Brussels declares itself incompetent and leaves the evaluation in the hands of Spanish institutions.
The European Commission has urged Spain to approve a General State Budget, although it has clarified that it will not intervene in this situation. According to THE OBJECTIVE, the community executive believes it is not a 'competent' arbiter to assess the non-compliance with the constitutional mandate to present public accounts, which has occurred again this Wednesday for the fourth consecutive year.
Sources from the administration headed by Ursula von der Leyen have indicated that 'the Commission is closely monitoring budgetary developments in Spain, as in all other member states, while its focus is on assessing compliance with EU fiscal rules.' In this regard, Brussels emphasizes that it is up to Spanish institutions to evaluate compliance with national laws and determine the legal implications of the current situation.
'Although Spain's recent practice of extending budgets is not contrary to EU fiscal rules, it is desirable for member states to have an adequate annual budget, adopted on time by the national Parliament.'
The supranational institution has specified that 'all elements of the EU fiscal surveillance framework remain fully applicable.' In particular, the Commission will continue to assess, in its spring and autumn packages, whether Spain's net spending growth aligns with the recommendations based on its medium-term structural fiscal plan. This approach prioritizes compliance with the spending ceiling, which focuses the efforts of community institutions on controlling national finances.
Other sources from Brussels have interpreted this statement as a confirmation that the Commission treats the absence of parliamentary control over public spending in Spain as 'a domestic issue' and limits itself to receiving the drafts submitted by the executive of Pedro Sánchez. The position of Von der Leyen's team is that it is up to the Constitutional Court, and not the EU, to determine whether those budgets are unconstitutional because it is not permitted to extend them without even presenting them.
Brussels' passivity has been met with skepticism in Spain. Several sources familiar with the applicable fiscal rules in the country have mocked the position of EU officials, accusing them of being 'bureaucrats' and reproaching them for describing compliance with the law as 'desirable', while implying that 'there are much more important things' than the undermining of the Legislative Power by the Executive, which for the fourth time has turned its back on the Congress of Deputies by using an exceptional norm specifically designed for the covid pandemic.
These observers attest that this anomalous and unprecedented situation in the EU represents, above all, a problem of democratic deterioration, but also poses a challenge to legal certainty and to the country's economy itself. The failure to approve accounts may become increasingly serious as the Next Generation funds come to an end and the global economic situation deteriorates in a context of rising prices, lower growth, and higher public debt costs. The wars in Iran and Ukraine have destroyed much of the world's refining capacity at a pace faster than reconstruction requires, with an impact that may become entrenched in the coming months.
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