The President of the Government of La Rioja, Concepción Andreu, and the President of the Senate, Ander Gil, at the La Rioja stand at the International Tourism Fair, Fitur 2022, in Madrid, on January 20. Eduardo Parra (Europa Press)
The president of the Senate, Ander Gil, has requested this Monday that the distribution of European recovery funds to the autonomous communities be addressed as a matter of State and be left out of the partisan debate. In an informative note before the next start of the session period, which will begin the first week of February, the president of the Upper House has highlighted that these funds are the definitive tool for both the reconstruction and the modernization of the country, and are managed in co-governance with the different communities, with which transfers have been agreed, already authorized, for an amount greater than 11,000 million euros.
Ander Gil has assured that the autonomous communities know all the details about how the funds are allocated, which he has described as "the definitive tool for both the reconstruction and the modernization of the country", within the framework of the sectoral conferences, which will take place adopt by majority, and has underlined that "Spain is the country of the European Union that is most advanced in the deployment of the Recovery Plan".
“We have been the first to receive the first disbursement from the European Commission, which demonstrates the fulfillment of the milestones set and the effort of the Government, the autonomous communities and the municipalities to have funds available as soon as possible that will contribute to the economic recovery and society," he said.
In this sense, the president of the Senate has appealed to the groups in the Chamber to collaborate on this "country issue" and not open a partisan debate on the funds, because "society demands to build and not destroy." Likewise, Gil recalled that the current context of Spain is that of a country in growth and recovery, with almost 20 million people working, and with world leadership in vaccination and expectations of economic growth that cannot be truncated by the no one's partisan interest.
In recent days, the PP has criticized the distribution of recovery funds, which they consider to be unequal depending on the political color of the autonomous communities.
The Community of Madrid, in the hands of the popular Isabel Díaz Ayuso, announced an appeal before the Supreme Court against Government decree 902/2021, for the distribution of nine million euros from the fund, but the Madrid Executive registered it by mistake in the National audience.
In Congress, the Popular Group registered a request for the appearance of all the members of the Executive to clarify the distribution criteria.