Madrid, 21 June 2021 – Members of the Coalición Pro Acceso and the Open Generation EU Platform have called on the Spanish government to guarantee the transparency of the European pandemic recover funds, after a report revealed the lack of mechanisms for public oversight of these funds.

In a letter to the General Secretary for European Funds in Spain’s Ministry of Finance, the 28 signatories of the letter raised concerns about the secrecy that will surround the almost €70 billion that Spain will receive from the European Commission.

The letter refers to the report released last week by Access Info and the Open Procurement EU Coalition which warned of a high risk of corruption and abuse in the use of these funds.

The report on 22 countries found that Spain only scored 2 out of 6 for transparency, as it has no plans to publish data on beneficiaries, audit reports nor reports send to the Commission. Nor does it commit to making any information available in open data formats.

“It is worrying that taxpayer money, destined to save jobs and help families hit by the pandemic could fall prey to misappropriation,” said Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info. As citizens, we have a right to know who is taking decisions and how the money is being used.”

The signatories have called on the Spanish government to ensure that:
    »  Information on the use of the funds is published proactively;
    »  The right of access to information applies to all information that is not published proactively;
    »  There is transparency in all phases of public contracting as funds are spent;
    »  Spending include projects that benefit minority and marginalised groups.

Balanced against this are the costs of restructuring the registers and loss of revenue, estimated to be €20 million in Germany, €60 million in Italy, and €50 million in the Netherlands. No reliable sources are given in the for these estimations, nor are moves towards openness in Germany in 2021 taken into account.

The letter is available here

Signatories:

  • Access Info Europe
  • Archiveros Españoles de la Función Pública (AEFP)
  • Asociación Andaluza para la Defensa de los Animales (ASANDA)
  • Asociación de Archiveros de Castilla y León (Acal)
  • Asociación de la Prensa de Madrid
  • Asociación de Usuarios de la Comunicación (AUC)
  • Asociación Española de Acreditación de la Transparencia (ACREDITRA)
  • Asociación para la Comunicación e Información Medioambiental (ACIMA)
  • Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España (APDHE)
  • Associació Ciutadania i Comunicació (ACICOM)
  • Associació d´Arxivers i Gestors de Documents Valencians (AAV)
  • Col-legi oficial de Bibliotecaris i Documentalistes de la Comunitat Valenciana (COBDCV)
  • Confederación de Consumidores y Usuarios (CECU)
  • Coordinadora de Organizaciones para el Desarrollo
  • Federación de Sindicatos de Periodistas (FeSP)
  • Fundación Compromiso Empresarial
  • Fundación Global Nature
  • Fundación Hay Derecho
  • Futuro en Común
  • Gobierno Transparente @TransparenteGob
  • Innovación y Derechos Humanos (ihr.world)
  • Manuel Sánchez de Diego
  • Oxfam Intermón
  • Plataforma en Defensa de la Libertad de Información (PDLI)
  • Red de Abogados para la Defensa Ambiental (RADA)
  • Reporteros Sin Frontera Sección Española
  • SEO Birdlife
  • Transparencia Internacional España
  • WWF

 

Foto: Fernando Calvo via La Moncloa