A report from a budget watchdog has sparked controversy by pointing out that Pedro Sánchez's government used credits from the Recovery and Resilience Facility to pay pensions in November 2024. The Executive denies the accusation and assures that no European regulations have been violated, dismissing the matter as a mere political interpretation of an accounting move. The European Commission had already closed the case, but the conservative opposition and several MEPs are demanding explanations.
The payment system: from Next Generation to Social Security 📊
Technically, the diversion of funds would have occurred by using leftover credits from the RRF to cover the payment of pensions in November, a month with a high budget burden. Although the government argues that it was an accounting reclassification and that the funds were replenished later, the oversight mechanism warns that these items are earmarked for investments and reforms, not for current spending. The discussion highlights the rigidity of the monitoring system for European funds.
What Europe doesn't know, the Treasury invents 💡
In other words, if you have a little left over from the European piggy bank, you put it into pensions and then, when the audit comes, you say it was an Excel error. Brussels considers it closed, the opposition makes a circus out of it, and pensioners, meanwhile, keep getting paid. So, the accounting trick is as old as moving money from the candy box to the bread box. In the end, the only clear thing is that, in this matter of funds, it's best not to ask too many questions.