The Madrid Ministry of Finance did not give Equality the 29.7 million that corresponded to it from the State Pact

In 2018, the central government transferred to Madrid the 10.2 million euros from the State Pact Fund against Gender Violence that corresponded to it. In 2019, 10.4 million. And 9.1 million more in 2020. Those 29.7 million euros were paid to the Ministry of Finance, which had to make the corresponding movement to the Social Policies according to what this area, on which the fight against sexist violence from its General Directorate of Equality, would have required for that purpose. However, where that money is or what it has been used for is not known with certainty. The already former director of that direction, Carmen Rodríguez, denounced when she was dismissed, in October of last year, that the money from 2018 and 2019, until she was in office, never reached her area.

It is reiterated this Monday, on the phone: “They never transferred those funds to us, despite the fact that we had advanced the money from our budget and we had justified practically 100% from the State Pact.

They never arrived".

He was also denounced by the then counselor in his area, Alberto Reyero.

And also Lorena Morales, a deputy for the Socialist Party, has been trying to find out that data for two years.

"I asked orally several times, and nothing, there has never been an answer."

He also asked in the Assembly about those economic movements between ministries, in writing, on December 2, 2020: "They never answered me, and they should have done it according to the regulations."

More information

• The Community of Madrid cuts funding by up to 75% to two federations of women against sexist violence

• The Community allocates more than two million from the State Pact against gender violence to advertising

His last attempt was through the Transparency Portal.

On July 1, he asked to know the “updated list of actions, as well as the dates on which they have been developed and their cost, to which the funds related to the State Pact against Gender Violence for the year 2020 received have been allocated. by the Community of Madrid "and also the" dates and amount of transfers made from the Ministry of Finance to the Department of Social Policies, Equality, Families and Birth of the funds linked to the State Pact against Gender Violence delivered by the Government of Spain to the Community of Madrid ”.

He received a response from Transparency last Friday: "The Community of Madrid has presented the justification of the funds linked to the State Pact against gender violence for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years. Following the regulations established for the management of said funds, and having taking into account that the first year the transfer of funds from the Ministry to the Autonomous Communities was made at the end of the year, the credit for the development of the State Pact for 2020 will be justified in the month of March 2022 including the actions of 2021 " . This answer also includes: "The information provided here is not the object of active advertising nor is it part of the" Open Data ".

This newspaper, last week, asked the Treasury for the same information.

On the phone, a spokeswoman assured that the transfers were made and that she would provide both the dates and the amounts.

This Monday, that information had not arrived.

Faced with a final request, the same spokesperson responds: "I asked but they told me that being so specific it was better that you look directly at it with Social Policies."

And he adds that he spoke with that other council and from there they had assured him that they had already given all the details.

From Social Policies, a spokesperson ensures that all the information they have was already provided last Friday: "I have no more."

In 2018 and 2019 Madrid did not spend 16% of the funds' money

These data provided was the execution of the expense that was made from the Funds, but neither one nor the other counseling provided a figure on the transfers that the Treasury had to make to Equality on those amounts. In other words, the Community spent and justified it with money from the central government, but that amount did not come from those funds in principle, but from the budget of the General Directorate of Equality itself. To which, as his former director insists, "was never reimbursed."

What were those amounts?

The spokesperson for Social Policies sends what the new Minister of Family, Youth and Social Policy, Concepción Dancausa, said at the parliamentary headquarters on July 15.

In 2018, 10.2 million was what the Ministry of Equality transferred to the Community —75% on October 18, and the remaining 25% on November 16—, “and the Community of Madrid justifies 7.8 million, 76% ".

In 2019 there were 10.4 million euros —50% on July 11, 25% on September 12 and 25% on October 30—, of which the regional Executive “justifies 9.5 million, 91 %, in March 2021 ".

In 2020 it was 9.1 million.

“75% transferred it on August 31 and the remaining 25% on November 11.

The justification will be presented in March 2022 with actions carried out in 2021 ”, explains the same spokesperson.

Dancausa then added that, this year, they have waited until June 29 "to know the criteria and the resulting distribution for the year 2021 of the budget credits for the development of the aforementioned Pact by the Autonomous Communities."

And that "the most serious thing is that in this year 2021, after half the year, we have still not received a single euro from the transfers due to the Community of Madrid".

Something that does not happen only with Madrid, but for the entire territory.

A budget that is reduced

The spokesperson also adds an explanation from the current director general for Equality, Patricia Reyes, from Ciudadanos, about the money received from the central Executive. From 2018 to 2019, the income that the Ministry of Equality made to Madrid increased from 10.2 to 10.4 million euros, "in accordance with the provisions of the State Pact." However, in 2020 that increase could not occur, on the contrary, the money that Madrid received was reduced. Why? “The reduction from 2020 to 9.1 [million euros] is due to what was not executed in 2018. That is the compensation dynamic. Every year they reduce your unused credit. But as it is being paid so late, the adjustment is made in the second year and not in the next one, ”the Equality Director explained through the spokesperson.

That is, as the Ministry is late in giving the money to the autonomies, the communities take longer to justify the expense, so the penalties or adjustments depending on how they have invested that money arrive two years later and not just the following year. The loss of money for not investing 100% of the amount received - something that other territories such as Castilla y León do - is double. On the one hand, it implies having to return the unspent money and, in addition, a posterior cut of what would correspond in principle for not having invested it.

With data from the Community itself, between 2018 and 2019 the Executive of Isabel Díaz Ayuso left 3.3 million unspent from the funds of the State Pact against gender violence, 16% of what the Central government entered him.

The Community is, together with Andalusia and Catalonia, one of the three regions that has designated the most money in the four years already set for the distribution of these funds (2018-2021, with 100 million annually for the AA CCs).

In total, and already counting on what corresponds to him in 2021 (10.76 million), the Ministry of Equality has granted him 40.46 million euros.

Until this August 2, they have executed 17.3 million, according to the figures they provide.

Although the actions and spending of 2020 and this 2021 still need to be known;

and, depending on the offset they drag, they might not be available until 2023.

From the ministry, asked about the execution of the spending of the autonomies and territories, they do not provide figures.

A spokesperson explains that "this information cannot be given at this time."

"It is information that the CC AAs must provide," he says.

And he adds that, "the 2020 funds can be spent until December 31 of this year."

The question, without closing, is whether it was with the money from the State Pact, which should be used to pay the 17.3 million that the Community claims to have spent, with which it has really been paid, as stated by the Ministry of Finance , without providing dates, amounts or documents.

Or if, as denounced by the former director of Equality, Carmen Rodríguez, and Lorena Morales, the Socialist deputy, that money or part of it stayed in the Fernández-Lasquetty area.

Money lost from the Ministry of Labor and the European Union

Lorena Morales, a socialist deputy in the Madrid Assembly, tells that it is not only with the funds of the State Pact against gender violence that Madrid makes “evident that this fight does not matter to her” and that the question of “transparency "And" joint work with the rest of the political groups does not exist. "

In the last legislature, in November 2019, a PSOE proposal was voted in favor in the regional chamber, recalls the deputy: “Also the PP and Citizens voted in favor and this promised to post on the Transparency Portal how they were being executed Pact funds and every three months the pact table had to meet to oversee what was being done, contribute ideas from the opposition, etc. ”.

It was convened only once, in January 2020.

Then, Morales says, the pandemic arrived: “We could have met telematically, as they met for many other things. The fact that the virus was there never meant that gender violence had disappeared, it has never disappeared. But they put it as an excuse for not meeting. But for what there is no excuse is to hang the execution of the funds in Transparency, and they have not done it either ”.

Morales also alludes to the 2.6 million that the Ministry of Labor gave to the Community for the social and labor insertion of vulnerable women due to sexist violence: “Which is the key to breaking with the abuser, the independence and autonomy of these women. And they diverted them to another objective that had nothing to do with disability ”. According to a request by Transparency of the deputy, the Community recognized in its response, on July 1 of this year, that not a single euro had been spent in this area. "No line or help was certified by this HUB [of employment opportunities]," reads that response.

He recalls Cimascam, the only center in the region to attend to sexually assaulted women: “To receive psychological care, the term is eight to 12 months and they receive half the sessions than years ago.

And as if that were not enough, the contract and the possible extensions of the Cimascam ended on December 31, so it is in an irregular situation and they have not drawn up the specifications to renew it ".

And, he concludes, “of the 740,000 euros that Europe gave in 2019 for female employment, only 56,000 have been spent, something that can be seen in the budget execution.

That is also money that if it is not spent, it is lost ”.

Subscribe here

to our new newsletter about Madrid.