In a rare public fracture at Spain’s Tribunal de Cuentas, the country’s top fiscal watchdog, several senior auditors have tried to block the routine approval of the 2024 General State Accounts.
That came after they uncovered what they describe as clear diversions of Next Generation EU funds into ordinary spending, including direct top-ups for pension payments.
According to El Mundo, unallocated Recovery and Resilience Facility money that arrived from Brussels was redirected through the Treasury’s single account to plug gaps in current expenditure. That was at a time when the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government was operating under a budget extension with no new annual accounts passed.
Critics inside the Tribunal reportedly warned that signing off the accounts without flagging the irregularities would amount to whitewashing “unjustified deviations”, precisely the kind of misuse the European Union’s traceability rules were designed to prevent.
The episode comes as Spain races against a hard August 2026 deadline to execute the remaining €27 billion in uncommitted NextGen funds or risk losing them entirely.
Multiple outlets, such as El Debate and La Gaceta, have picked up and expanded on the story in the past day or so, framing it as fresh evidence of fiscal sleight-of-hand to sustain politically sensitive pension spending while the Recovery Plan’s green and digital investment targets lag.
Right-leaning commentators and opposition voices have seized on the Tribunal’s internal dissent as confirmation of long-standing warnings from the European Court of Auditors that Spain remains the EU’s worst performer on structural-fund execution and control.
No formal denial from the government has appeared yet, although sources close to the executive have described any transfers as “coyuntural” (temporary accounting adjustments) rather than permanent reallocation.
An official report with the dissenting opinions is expected to be published soon.
Brussels has so far remained silent on this specific audit clash but the timing is crucial.
The European Commission published fresh guidelines only days ago, reiterating that all milestones must be met by the end of August for final disbursements, with zero room for post-deadline spending.
EU “recovery” money quietly morphing into national budget relief is not unique.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is investigating more than 500 cases of suspected fraud linked to the EU’s €650 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the bloc’s flagship post-pandemic stimulus fund focused on the “green” transition, digital transformation, economic resilience and social cohesion, with payments strictly tied to meeting agreed milestones and targets.
In a highly critical report, the European Court of Auditors has sharply condemned what it said was the EU’s lack of oversight in spending €650 billion allocated for post-Covid recovery. https://t.co/QEUXD2Dfxq
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 7, 2025
