37 million in foreign grants under scrutiny in Spain

Trinc the public money trail: 37 million in foreign grants under scrutiny

A public database, the BDNS run by Spain's Ministry of Finance, makes it possible to trace every euro of grant funding. Someone has cross-referenced the data and given names and faces to what until now was a vague suspicion: hundreds of projects outside Spain, many awarded by direct grant without competitive tender. The figure surfaced so far stands at around 37 million euros, an amount that, according to the trackers themselves, is only a tiny fraction of the total. The website compiling this waste of public money has become the centre of a political and media storm.

The finding is not an isolated discovery. It is the tip of an iceberg that has been growing under the radar for years: the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID, Spain's development cooperation agency) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs channel billions in development aid every year. Much of it is awarded through non-repayable calls for proposals contested by NGOs and foundations. What is new is that anyone can now download this data via an official API and check, euro by euro, where it goes.

From suspicion to data: how the money is tracked

The methodology is as simple as it is revealing. The BDNS (National Grants Database) publishes every award: amount, beneficiary, date and granting body. A well-tuned script allows the entire database to be downloaded without being blocked by request limits. The first results have begun to circulate: €400,000 to promote crafts in Egypt, €4.2 million for projects in Peru, line items for "protection of Andean journalism" or train design in Uganda. These are just examples. The full list, broken down item by item, is what has set alarm bells ringing.

The issue is not only where the money goes, but how it is awarded. Many of these grants are given by direct award, without competitive tendering, which reduces the filters and increases discretion. That is where the misgivings come in: who decides that a project deserves €400,000, and why? What criteria are applied? The official answer is usually international cooperation and compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals. The answer read between the lines in forums and on social media is another one: cronyism, money laundering or plain incompetence.

The NGO business and the AECID fog

One of the most repeated arguments is that the money does not reach its destination in full. It is claimed that the beneficiary NGOs keep a substantial share in overheads, salaries and administration. There are no official figures quantifying that percentage in the material available, but the suspicion has taken hold. The AECID itself is described as a "bottomless pit" where legitimate humanitarian projects are mixed with line items of dubious justification.

The links between these organisations and political power are another focus of criticism. It is pointed out that many NGOs have relatives and friends of public officials in their organisational charts, which guarantees them access to funding calls. It is not proof of illegality, but it is fertile ground for cronyism. The question hanging in the air is to what extent public money is used to finance a network of international patronage.

The institutional response: silence and Brussels

Meanwhile, the institutions remain silent. There are no official statements about the figures being discussed. The European Commission, which might have something to say about the use of EU funds, has not commented. Critics point out that Brussels is looking the other way because many of these projects are financed with European funds and form part of the common foreign policy.

The political opposition has not reacted forcefully either. Some analyses suggest that the Partido Popular (Spain's conservative party) does not want to open this can of worms because it also practised this kind of grant-making when in government. The phrase "if Ayuso gets away with it, the others want the same" sums up the scepticism towards politicians in general. Corruption, the argument goes, knows no party labels.

The impact on the tax burden and the middle class

The debate about public waste is not abstract. It connects directly with the tax burden. Spain is at record levels of tax revenue, and taxpayers see their money going to projects they neither understand nor share. The middle class, squeezed by inflation and rising interest rates, watches with indignation the proliferation of foreign grants while their wages lose purchasing power.

The call for an audit is unanimous among critics. They demand that every euro be reviewed, that the final beneficiaries be identified and that those responsible be held to account. If there is misappropriation, it should end up in court. Transparency, they say, is the only way to restore trust in institutions. But recent experience does not invite optimism: corruption cases that reach trial are a minority, and convictions, when they happen, rarely involve the money being returned.

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The figure that unsettles is not the total, but the estimulante ilegal at which it grows. Within hours, the tracker went from a few thousand euros to 37 million, and it is not finished yet. If the pace continues, the full map of waste could exceed any previous estimate. The website that makes it possible has become an uncomfortable instrument for those in power. And that, in Spain, is almost a news story in itself.