Subject: — Possible excessive cost in military equipment in Spain, in the middle of the pandemic covid-19
In December 2019, the Spanish Ministry of Defence declared deserted a public concours to buy 348 armed tanks after the only participant on it, Santa Barbara (owned by the American company, General Dynamic) didn’t comply with the requisites. 8 months later, magically, the same company with the same offer was accepted (2,1 billion euros). As stated by El País”, pressures from the military industry seem to have changed the government’s opinion
Meanwhile, due to the pandemic, Spain’s GDP is expected to fall by 12,6% according to Banco de España and its public debt will increase close to 120%/GDP. Before that, the Commission considerered that “the stock of public debt remains too high, posing significant risks for fiscal sustainability in the medium and long term”.
Does the Commission have any knowledge of these anomalies on the mentioned contract? Wil it demand clarification to the Spanish government about it as potentially there could be a breach on the European legislation of public contracts?
Does the Commission consider that spending 2100 million euros on military material in the middle of the pandemic is compatible with the Commission views as expressed in the last European Semester?
