Barcelona Provincial Council spends €100 million on European strategy and cooperation
The Barcelona Provincial Council is one of the more institutions coveted by political parties in Catalonia, after the Generalitat or Barcelona City Council. With a budget of 1,060 million euros, under the pretext of providing services to the populations of the demarcation, the formations concentrate many efforts, economic and human, in positions of free designation Y high salaries.
In the 2019-2023 legislature, the parties represented in the Provincial Council are the following: Esquerra Republicana, PSC, Junts per Catalunya, En Comú Guanyem, Ciudadanos, Partido Popular and Tot per Terrassa. The socialist Núria Marín, mayor of Hospitalet de Llobregat, presides over the institution with the direct support of Junts.
One of the action areas of the Barcelona Provincial Council is Europe. From the area of International Relations, the DIBA has allocated, in the period 2012-2022, a total of 16 million euros to promote projects linked to European cooperation.
Office in Brussels to “influence decision-making”
In the community capital, the supra-municipal entity has an office that, broadly speaking, offers advisory services for municipalities and strategies to “influence decision-making” of the European Commission, Parliament and other related institutions.
Mainly, the resources of the Diputación for European affairs were transferred to town halls, non-governmental organizations or county councils. Marín and the rest of his management team at the supra-municipal institution also assure that they train local officials and technicians on the interiors of the european union or opportunities to attract project partners.
In the 2022 budget, the Barcelona Provincial Council has a budget of 73,000 for the maintenance of the office in Brussels: office rental, equipment maintenance, press and publications, energy, telecommunications and cleaning services. Regarding alliances with the diplomatic representation of Spain or the delegation of the Generalitat, the supra-municipal entity is limited to “monitoring its institutional activity”.
€84 million for corporate and economic development strategies
For 10 years, the Provincial Council has invested a total of 84 million euros to promote corporate and economic development strategies. In the first chapter, a large part of the resources are allocated to contracting companies and consultancies to carry out technical studies.
When it comes to highlighting the field of economic development, the movements of the Barcelona Provincial Council focus on the delivery of aid to town councils, other local administrations, associations and entities such as the Zona Franca Consortium, the ESADE Foundation or the College of Economists from Catalonia for analysis tasks.
Investment of €53 million in minor contracts
Between the years 2020 (25.3 M€) and 2021 (27.8 M€), marked by the coronavirus crisis, the Barcelona Provincial Council has allocated 53.1 million euros to close minor contracts. Most of the operations, with less supervision, belong to tasks of technical advice, consulting, maintenance of public space, cultural projects, communication services or promotional campaigns, among other concepts.
state regulations contemplates that the minor contract “allows an immediate and agile response to public needs”, always with a simpler administrative procedure. The same regulation defines a contract with a value of less than 40,000 euros in relations linked to works and 15,000 euros in contracts for supplies or services.