Although the Spanish Development Cooperation Agency (AECID) was born with a clear objective, that of transform international solidarity into public policyefficient, professional and in line with the democratic values of Spain, the organization has been going through a crisis for years … silent but persistent which coincides with the arrival of José Manuel Albares at the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.
Sources from AECID, where 806 employees work, point out that since Albares took charge of Spanish diplomacy This agency is mired in “strategic disorientation”mainly the result of a lack of resources, to which is added the “institutional weakness and mismanagement” of the various leaders who have led the organization, over the last decade, all socialist “black legs”. Even if the budget allocated to cooperation has theoretically increased, the AECID’s real capacity to manage it in an agile manner remains limited, they explain. They assure that there are “payment delays and a disproportionate administrative burden”.
These same sources emphasize that one of the main problems detected in recent years is the increasing politicization of the AECID. They criticize the fact that the leadership is still too conditioned by the political vagaries of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidency of the Government, during a few years in which Pedro Sánchez himself decided unilaterally to change Spain’s position in several international territories.
“Sanchista” Presidents
The last two presidents of the AECID, the current one, Eva Granadosand her predecessor, Pilar Cancela, are two purebred “sanchista” women. In the case of Granados, member of the UGT of Catalonia and the PSC, Sánchez was appointed spokesperson for the PSOE in the Senate in September 2021, a few weeks after the government crisis which he used for the largest remodel undertaken to date. His godfather was the minister at the time, Miquel Iceta. In 2023, after the formation of the second coalition government, she was appointed Secretary of State for Cooperation, from which position she chaired the AECID.
Eva Granados succeeded another historical figure of Galician socialism, Cancela Pillararrived in Congress in 2016 under the leadership of Pedro Sánchez, being one of the women most loyal to the president. In the summer of 2021, with the aforementioned remodeling, she becomes number two at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, while also becoming Foreign Secretary of the federal executive of the Socialist Party. On December 6, 2023, he left Cooperation and therefore the presidency of AECID to land at the Ministry of Migration as number two to Elma Saiz.
Workers denounce “opaque internal processes”
The temporary workers consulted by ABC regret that the reform of the cooperation system, promoted by Albares within the framework of the Cooperation Law for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity of 2023, and which was presented as a stage of modernization, showed serious shortcomings in its implementation. In the opinion of these managers, poorly communicated organizational changes were observed, opaque internal processes and excessive centralization of decisions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which they say has reduced the operational autonomy of the AECID.
Staff of the agency, with a budget of 707.2 million euros, denounce that Albares transformed AECID into a simple complement to the political action of the minister. This is why the “lack of accountability” occurring from its leaders makes the situation ugly. They argue that under the current political leadership, communication has focused more on grandiose speeches about “Spain’s return to the world” than on verifiable data on results, effectiveness or institutional learning.
About The Author
