Dotaciones económicas de las Corporaciones Locales a los grupos políticos: problemática, fiscalización por el Tribunal de Cuentas y su reciente reforma legislativa

The economic allocations assigned by Local Entities to political or institutional groups are recognized as public grants intended for their ordinary financing, although they suffer from insufficient regulation, which has given rise to the need to complete it by case-law, doctrine and several pronouncements of the Spanish Court of Audit (SCA). Particularly noteworthy are the results obtained in the Audit Report on the actions carried out by the city councils of provincial capital municipalities regarding the economic allocations assigned to local political groups, fiscal year 2022, among other reports and motions approved by the SCA, as well as Judgment no. 18/2011, of December 19, 2011, of the Chamber of Justice. Apart from the limited legal framework on the matter, the SCA has pointed out deficiencies both in the regulatory development carried out by the audited municipalities and in the procedures for rendering accounts, justification and control of the public funds granted to the local political groups. The latest resolutions of the Joint Congress-Senate Committee for relations with the SCA and the recent reform of the Law providing the Foundations of the Local Regime, concerning the contributions of local political groups to their respective political parties, have not only failed to clarify the prevailing legal uncertainty but have, in fact, further exacerbated it. As a result, the challenges surrounding the economic allocations obtained by local political groups remain unresolved.