The DESC Observatory, the PAH, Enginyers sense fronteres and the Alliance against Energy Poverty dedicate resources to serving and advising citizens, preparing data and drafting regulations
Payments have been made in four agreements, in an extraordinary way until 2020, when they began to appear in the budgets after claiming it in an audit report
Ada Colau will have to testify, except for a last-minute surprise, on March 4 before the judge for a complaint filed as a result of the granting of subsidies to the DESC Observatory, where she worked, from which they benefit Engineers sense borders (ESF), the Alliance against Energy Poverty (EPA) and the Mortgage Affected Platform (PAH), of which he was the spokesperson and visible head, and where he forged a career from which he reached politics and the mayor’s office of Barcelona.
The mayor is summoned to testify on March 4 before court number 21
He will go to court as investigated for the alleged crimes of prevarication, contracting fraud, embezzlement of public funds, influence peddling and prohibited negotiations. The specificity and nature of the denounced aid has remained in the relative background in the context of the noise that usually accompanies the debates, especially on social networks, between the detractors and the supporters of the mayor, a figure that tends to generate polarization . But that concreteness exists. It is known how much money these subsidies represent, the system by which they are granted and the activities that they finance.
The amount
It is not easy to determine in the complaint what is the amount that according to the entity that has denounced Colau, the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality, is under suspicion. In the initial part of the text of the complaint, the summary of the case begins as follows: “In the years 2019 and 2020, the municipal council has granted subsidies for an approximate amount of 80 million, in an allegedly arbitrary and discretionary manner (…) with the sole purpose of allegedly financing the activities and operation of entities such as DESC, PAH, ESF, Alliance against Energy Poverty, etc”. But that amount exceeds the total of all municipal subsidies for those years: 67.2 million in 2019 and 76.9 in 2020.
According to data provided by municipal sources, the reported subsidies add up to 1,225,459 euros in four agreements between 2014 and 2022. In fact, the complaint questions the subsidies for the 2014-2021 period, up to half of the current agreement.
DESC is the entity that owns the grants through agreements that provide for the participation of the other aforementioned entities. In the first agreement, signed with Xavier Trias as mayor for the period 2014-16, the amount set was 240,000 euros, 120,000 per year, but it only included the PAH. ESF and the APE were incorporated from the second agreement, that of 2016-18, already with Colau at the head of the consistory. That addition, say the same sources, explains why the budget rose to 336,259 euros, 168,129.5 per year.
In the agreement from 2018 to 2020, the sum was 324,600 euros, the same as in the current one, from 2020 to 2022, 162,300 euros per year. Since this last agreement, the subsidy is nominative, that is, it appears in the city council’s budgets. Previously, it was a direct grant, that is, with an extraordinary nature, something that made sense the first time it was delivered, but once it becomes stable it loses it. An inspection report warned of this fact and when in the summer the prosecution filed a complaint similar to the current one, it underlined that irregularity although it did not consider it a crime, as the municipal government has emphasized these days.
The activities
Regarding what the resources established in the agreement are dedicated to, municipal sources report that there are three “fields of activity”. The first is “empowerment” affected by situations related to housing and from the second agreement on issues related to energy supplies. For example, the PAH assemblies, advice to people who have been or are about to be evicted, negotiation with banks or utility companies.
The second area of action is the “visibility & rdquor; situations related to housing and energy through the compilation of data on evictions and supply problems. The third area of action is that of “political advocacy”: participation in the preparation and processing of regulations, ILP proposals, drafting of laws related to housing or energy, training of professionals on these issues.
The agreement serves to finance part of the salary of five people: one who assumes the coordination of the team and other tasks; a housing technician; an energy technician; a lawyer, and a person who is dedicated to communication. Among others, the current PAH spokesperson, Lucía Delgado, has received DESC payrollsas before its predecessor, Carlos Macías, and before, from 2014 until he left office to run for municipal elections, Colau herself. But they have not received these payrolls due to their status as spokespersons of the entity, an activity not paid or included in the agreement, but for work done in DESC. In fact, the PAH has had other spokespersons who have not received a salary from the observatory because they haven’t worked there.
Three Types of Grants
There are three types of grants. In the first place, those of concurrence, in which a contest is foreseen. If it is a competitive competition, one or more applicants obtain the grants by accrediting better requirements than others. If it is non-competitive, everyone who proves the required conditions receives it.
The second type is the nominative: there is no competition but the subsidies are mentioned in the budgets, with the transparency that this entails. The third is the direct, extraordinary, as were the first three agreements mentioned.
Related news
According to the same municipal sources, whatever the type of subsidy, for them to be granted they must have a technical report, a legal one, one of the managers and one of intervention. And each receiving entity must prepare a justification of what it has dedicated the resources to annually: although the agreement is biannual, if one year registers any doubts or irregularities, the next one is not charged until they are resolved. In fact, DESC charged a year late for the existence of one of those doubts, which was resolved favorably.
More contests than before
One of the accusations that Ada Colau has received is that the subsidies in question have been granted in a direct and extraordinary way, which the complainants consider contradictory with the finding that they are stable aid over time. The consistory changed that situation from the fourth agreement. Municipal sources emphasize that globally more and more subsidies are given through competitive competition and nominative, and that, therefore, there are fewer and fewer extraordinary ones. According to their data, and taking only the cases of 2014 and 2020, the figures are as follows.
In 2014, 55.5 million were awarded in 5,131 grants. Due to competitive competition, 4,531 were awarded, totaling 21.4 million euros; 28 were registered, worth 1.5 million, and 572 direct, worth 32.6 million. In 2020, 76.9 million were distributed over 23,885 grants (a higher payment figure due to the covid context, although the global figure in money does not differ much from that of previous years). Of these, 23,481 were awarded by competitive bidding, worth 46.3 million; 149 were nominative, worth 13 million, and 255 direct, worth 17.7 million.