The People's Party asks the government "why it lied to El Greco"

The Council of Europe's Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) published its latest report on Spain last Friday and denounced that the Executive has not fully complied with any of the 19 recommendations it has been making since 2019 regarding legal and regulatory improvements to promote the proper functioning of the government and avoid scandals such as those involving Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos.

Faced with this situation, the Popular Party filed two questions about the report in the Congress of Deputies on Friday, in addition to requesting the appearance of Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, to seek responses from the government regarding the measures recommended by El Greco regarding corruption. According to the report, "Spain has not satisfactorily implemented or addressed any of the nineteen recommendations contained in the Fifth Round Evaluation Report" to prevent potential cases of corruption in the government and security forces.

Of these, sixteen have only been "partially" implemented and three have not been addressed at all, a situation that El Greco "regrets" due to "the lack of decisive action and tangible results" on the recommendations of the Council of Europe body.

This was the fourth consecutive report in which El Greco has harshly criticized Spain, placing it on a par with Poland or Hungary. The report urges the government "once again" to implement measures such as the approval of a Code of Conduct for the Civil Guard or the review of the police disciplinary regime. This situation has caused the body to become fed up, and when the report was approved last June, it even asked the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Swiss Socialist Alain Berset, to send an official letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, demanding "decisive measures" to comply with the recommendations. The government's wish was for this report to be published on August 1st , the very day the largest holiday-exit operation in Spain begins.

The PP's questions, presented by Cuca Gamarra and Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, among others, focus mainly on why the government has not adopted the measures recommended by El Greco and its interests in why it does not want them to come into force in this legislative session. "Why did the Spanish government lie to El Greco, committing in January to the approval of a draft Open Administration Bill by 2025, which, two months later, it excluded from the Annual Regulatory Plan for that same year and, five months later, delayed until the end of next year?" and "What interest does the Spanish government have in preventing the corruption prevention measures that El Greco is demanding from Spain, and which would be incorporated in said bill, from coming into force in this legislative session?" are the questions to which ABC has had access.

The PP also includes contextualization of the questions. It recalls that the Government said it expected this Open Administration bill to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval "during the first months of 2025." More than halfway through the year, this approval "has not been forthcoming," and the PP is demanding answers.

It's important to remember that although El Greco is not part of the European Union, all its members do belong to this organization, and its reports can be taken into account by the European Commission for its own analyses. Therefore, these reports are key to the international image of their member countries.