Political Risk:
Moderate
Score:
55/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
75/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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Parliament has the power to veto or approve laws on defence. Parliament approves, in theory, the laws related to defence, the corresponding credits, and…
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Parliament does not have a relevant role on the approval of defence laws and policies because, despite having the possibility to debate them, there…
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There is influence by the military establishment in the formation of the national defence policy, since in the National Defence Council, high-level military commanders…
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Q2
42/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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There is a Defence Committee that is one of the permanent legislative commissions. It can modify laws, intervene, request data, and it has the…
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Members of the Defence Committee [1] usually have no expertise in defence, with exception of some former military members that are MPs. There are…
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The most recent national defence directives, a brief political statement from the presidency, date from 2012 and 2020 [1]. Regarding the 2017 National Security…
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The Defence Committee can review the defence budget, but its capacity to do so is limited because it can only deal with the budget…
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The Defence Commission has the power to ask for long-term investigations, however, it does not routinely carry them out. An example of one long-term…
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There exists a regular control of the Ministry of Defence performed by the Defence Comission, but recommendations and proposals are rarely accepted or incorporated…
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Q3
63/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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The main defence policies are created by the government, and there is no in-depth debate in Parliament, which receives defence policies for information purposes,…
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Since 2014, the National Security Department of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government annually publishes a detailed national security report in which…
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The process of preparing the National Security Strategy and the annual national security reports incorporates government experts from various ministries. An increase in the…
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Both the Ministry of Defence and the Department of National Security of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government publish the main national…
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Q4
42/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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Article 8 of Law 36/2015 National Security establishes “The Government, in coordination with the Autonomous Communities, will establish mechanisms that facilitate the participation of…
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There are a wide range of civil society organisations (CSOs) that focus on defence. Most CSOs are government-controlled such as the Instituto de Estudios…
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There are defence and security CSOs with close working relationships with the government; some may be ‘dependent’ on the Ministry of Defence [1, 2].…
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Q5
63/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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Spain has signed and ratified both the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) [1] and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Convention…
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The last report from OECD Convention on Combating Bribery about Spain is from 2015, the Working Group Report highlights that just a few recommendations…
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Q6
50/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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According to the latest poll by the National Centre on Sociological Investigations (CIS) of September 2017, 58.6% of the population is seldom interested or…
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The Ministry of Defence promotes a so-called “culture of defence”, which in certain sensitive cases may lead to the uncritical acceptance of government policy…
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Q7
38/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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There is no specific anticorruption legislation for defence in Spain, but there is a reinforced body and anticorruption norms in Spain which was widely…
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There is no evidence of the implementation of an anticorruption plan in the General Defence Intervention and the General Sub-Directorate of Accounting of the…
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Q8
50/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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There are no specific anti-corruption bodies in the defence and security sector [1]. Cases of crimes against the treasury or heritage in the military…
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There is not enough information to score this indicator. There is insufficent evidence to confirm that the investigation units in the army (internal affairs…
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The Spanish Army’s Department of Internal Affairs have the required knowledge about corruption risks specific to their institutions, but it does not seem to…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. There is no report or survey about corruption in the defence sector in Spain.…
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Q10
0/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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No other government report has been found that refers to corruption in Defence beyond the one mentioned in the 2015 Transparency International Report, the…
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This indicator is scored ‘Not Applicable’, given that risk assessments are not conducted (see Q10A).
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This indicator is scored ‘Not Applicable’, given that risk assessments are not conducted (see Q10A).
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Defence Budgets
Q11
67/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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Acquisition in defence is regulated. Acquisition planning is regulated in Spain by Law 9/2017 of Public Sector Contracts [1], which adapts to Spanish legislation…
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Acquisition planning transparency is susceptible to improvement. The process is regulated by the Ministerial Order 37/2005 and 60/2015 [1, 2], but as stated in…
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There are several external oversight processes for defence acquisition in addition to the existing internal process of acquisition planning based on capacities present at…
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Q12
38/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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The budget is disaggregated, but not comprehensive. The official military budget includes all aspects listed in score 4, with one exception, it does not…
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The government must present the General State Budgets to the Congress of Deputies at least three months before the expiration of the previous year…
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Q13
63/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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Q14
67/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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The Ministry of Defence publishes its budget on its website annually at the end of the budgetary year [1, 2]. The breakdown of the…
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The Ministry of Defence publishes its budget on its website [1], but this is only part of the total military budget, generally accounting for…
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Occasionally, there are mentions in the Defence Commission about the defence budget, when requested by parliamentarian groups (only five out of 31 sessions during…
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Q15
83/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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The main sources of defence income, other than from the general budget, are managed by the Institute of Defence Housing, Infrastructure and Equipment (INVIED)…
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INVIED, which depends on the Ministry of Defence, is overseen by the supreme audit institution. INVIED states in its annual reports that it reports…
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There is no in-depth public scrutiny from the media about the Ministry of Defence’s income, because they offer superficial information without critical analysis on…
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Q16
63/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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The department in charge of the auditing function, permanent financial control, and the public audit in the Ministry of Defence is the General Intervention…
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There is no continuous oversight based on internal audits because IGAE reports on the Ministry of Defence’s expenditures are rarely debated in Parliament [1].…
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The General Intervention of Defence and the General Accounting Subdirectorate of the Ministry of Defence release reports regularly to the IGAE so that on…
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There is limited evidence on how the Defence Ministry implements internal audit report findings and to what extent the ministry values the auditor’s findings.…
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Q17
38/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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The Court of Accounts is the external auditing of military defence expenditure, as per its supervisory function established in Articles 2.a), 9 and 21.3.a)…
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The Court of Accounts is a body that reports directly to Parliament and exercises its functions through the examination and verification of the General…
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External audit reports of military expenditure are very rarely made available to the public. The last publicly available analysis in depth of the Court…
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The Constitutional Court has obliged the Ministry of Defence to stop using extra-budgetary credits for armament acquisitions, which has been followed by the Court…
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
100/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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Organic Law 9/2011, of 27 July, on the rights and duties of members of the Armed Forces prohibits defence organisations, in its article 33.5,…
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There is no evidence of cases of defence intstitutions having interest in country’s natural resource exploitation. However, it is common practice in the Minstry…
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There is no evidence of individual defence personnel with business interests in Spain’s natural resource exploitation [1].
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no evidence of defence institutions having financial interests in businesses associated with natural resource exploitation…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no evidence of defence institutions having financial interests in businesses associated with natural resource exploitation…
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Organised Crime
Q19
88/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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There is no clear evidence of connections between defence and security sector and organised crime related activities. Nevertheless the existence of isolated cases of…
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Organised crime is identified as a threat and risk in recent official documents about national security [1]. Additionally, the creation of the Intelligence Center…
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Q20
75/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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There is no specific anticorruption policy for the defence sector in Spain. However, as mentioned previously, the special prosecutor against corruption and organised crime…
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Policing functions on anticorruption are partially independent. This is because although the special prosecutor against corruption and organised crime, which includes the defence sector,…
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There are no cases of involvement in organised crime in the defence sector. However, it has been affected over the last few years by…
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
75/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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Intelligence services in Spain are regulated by Law 11/2002, which specifically contemplates the principle of parliamentary control of the activities of the National Intelligence…
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Intelligence services policies, administration, and budgets are explained regularly to the Parliamentarian Commision on Official Secrets and Reserved Funds. In a legislative term, meetings…
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Q22
50/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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The structure of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) is defined by RD 436/2002 [1] and modified by RD 240/2013. Article 7 defines the participation…
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The secretary of state director of the National Intelligence Centre is appointed by a Royal Decree at the proposal of the Minister of Defence.…
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There is no information available nor evidence of a vetting process in the selection of candidates to senior positions in intelligence services, neither on…
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Export Controls
Q23
42/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
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Spain signed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on 3 June 2013, and ratified it on 2 April 2014 [1].
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The minutes of the sessions by the Inter-ministerial Regulatory Junta of Foreign Trade of Defence and Double Use Material (Junta Interministerial Reguladora del Comercio…
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Parliamentary scrutiny is carried out after exports have been authorised, limited to one annual appearance. The Defence Commission must submit a report with recommendations…
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Lobbying in Defence
Spain does not have a specific regulation for lobbying, and while several legislative initiatives have taken place in the last few decades, they proved…
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As outlined in 76A, there is no legislation to regulate lobbying in the field of defence and security in Spain. Public officials in defence…
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As outlined in 76A, there is no legislation to regulate lobbying in the field of defence and security in Spain and therefore there is…
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As outlined in 76A, there is no legislation to regulate lobbying in the field of defence and security in Spain. As such, this indicator…
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