The Advisory Board of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) met this Monday to analyse the main activities carried out by the Institution in the first six months of 2023. This is the first meeting to be held since last March when the nine members who have been on the Board since March 2021 renewed their posts and Rafael Bengoa, a doctor specialising in Management and Public Health, joined the Board to strengthen its commitment to the assessment of cross-cutting policies such as health.
The president opened the meeting by sharing the main actions carried out by AIReF so far this year. The director of the Budgetary Analysis Division, Ignacio Fernández-Huertas, and the director of the Economic Analysis Division, Esther Gordo, then discussed the implications of the proposal to reform the EU’s fiscal governance framework, paying special attention to the particularities for its translation to the Spanish case.
Lastly, the director of the Public Expenditure Review Division, José María Casado, shared the approach and results of AIReF’s second Opinion on Minimum Income Scheme, published on June 15th. He also gave an overview of the evaluations carried out by the Division and those currently underway.
The Board, which meets in plenary session at least twice a year, is made up of AIReF’s president, the Steering Committee – made up of the directors of the Divisions – and the ten experts appointed as advisors, professionals of recognised national and international prestige in budgetary, economic, and financial analysis and policy evaluation. These experts are Javier Andrés, Rafael Bengoa, Samuel Bentolila, Antonio Cabrales, Olga Cantó, Álvaro Escribano, Beatriz González, Eckhard Janeba, Francisco Pedraja and Eva Senra.
The Board is exclusively deliberative and technical advisory in nature on matters that the president submits for consultation, directly related to the exercise of the powers legally entrusted to AIReF and of relevance to the institution. It is an eminently technical board, without excluding the possibility of also seeking strategic advice.
The members of the Board are appointed from among professionals of recognised prestige for a period of two years, renewable for successive periods. They act with full independence and autonomy in the exercise of their functions and may request any information they deem necessary. In addition to the plenary meetings, the board members maintain an ongoing dialogue with AIReF on the lines of analysis, tools or methodologies that are the subject of commonly defined advice.