The PP requests a commission in Congress to monitor the expenses and activities that Spain will assume with the Presidency of the EU

A month and a half before Spain assumes the Presidency of the European Union, and after months of criticism from the opposition for the “opacity” of the Government regarding its planned agenda, the Popular Parliamentary Group has found the formula to have all the information detailed and up-to-date: a non-permanent commission to monitor the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the second half of this year.

The popular deputies have already registered in Congress the request to form this body. The text, to which 20minutos has had access, wants the aforementioned commission to allow the proposals that Spain presents in the various meetings of the Presidency to be collected, to welcome the appearances of the heads of the different ministerial departments and for them to account for the expenses and the corresponding justification of the same that are produced for this reason.

And it is that the PP suspects that the Government is predisposed “to the waste of public money”, seeing in the Spanish presidency “an extraordinary opportunity to use it for purely electoral purposes – the general elections are at the end of the year -, far removed from the interest for prestige as a Nation”. To support this fear, the opposition relies on the “scarce information” that parliamentarians have, despite the fact that they participate in a mixed commission in which they submit their proposals for debate.. “We must take into account the Government's refusal to explain the budgets of the European Presidency in the process of approval of the General State Budgets.”

In this way, the popular ones propose that the object of the commission is “to control the execution of the funds destined to cover the needs of the Spanish Presidency and its link with the objectives to be achieved for it”. For this, said body “must receive information from the different ministerial departments on the expenses of the acts, meetings, conferences, debates, events, that are expected to be carried out, as well as give a detailed account of the contracts, tenders or awards and its corresponding economic valuation and the elaboration of conclusions on the actions of the Government in relation to this Presidency”.

Regarding the composition of the commission, the group led by Cuca Gamarra proposes that 37 members participate in it, of which 13 would belong to the PSOE, nine to the PP, five to Vox, four to Unidas Podemos and one to each of the rest. of parliamentary groups, according to representation.

Finally, it asks that the commission remain active until Spain leaves the European Presidency -on December 31-, that its agreements be included in a report and that the agreements that have been approved between all the parliamentary groups be adapted afterwards. Thus, the PP proposes that all the ministers appear in the monitoring commission to report on the activities designed during the semester and the detailed list of expenses of the acts of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

“The Commission will issue a report that will be sent to the Plenary of the Chamber for debate and approval, and that will contain resolutions and proposals on the purpose of its work”. Afterwards – dictates the text -, “the commission will adopt its agreements in accordance with the weighted vote criteria based on the number of members that each parliamentary group has in the Plenary Session of the Chamber”.