The President of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF), Cristina Herrero, gave a talk today within the framework of the Programme in Digital Leadership for Public Administration, organised by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and the School of Industrial Organisation. The President explained the role played by AIReF in the Spanish economy as a key player in the fiscal debate that provides independent and objective analyses that reduce the information asymmetry between public managers and the general public.
As stated by the President, AIReF came into being following the 2008 financial crisis as a fiscal supervisor with the mission of ensuring the sustainability of public finances. However, in recent years it has consolidated its work evaluating public policies and today this is a permanent function of the institution. AIReF currently carries out its mandate through these two main functions: supervision and evaluation.
Cristina Herrero explained that in just ten years AIReF has positioned itself as a benchmark in the fiscal field and, more recently, in evaluation, thanks to its unbiased analysis carried out with the highest levels of transparency. In the new European fiscal framework, AIReF will play a key role as a link between the European and national framework and will provide its experience together with objective and impartial analyses.
In her view, Independent Fiscal Institutions (IFIs) such as AIReF make objective and technically rigorous information available to political decision-makers and the public in the field of fiscal policy and thus contribute to improving the democratic quality of countries.
The training programme in Digital Leadership for Public Administration is aimed at training public managers, especially strengthening their leadership skills and digital competences in order to manage effectively and strategically.