Next week, the Plenary of the Madrid City Council will debate the Economic Financial Plan 2026-2027. This approval is an essential requirement, as the council failed to comply with the spending rule in 2025, with a deviation of 56.9 million euros, representing 0.88% of its 6.5 billion euro budget. The document, which has already been reviewed by the Governing Board, will be sent to the Ministry of Finance as a formal response to this deviation.
From the Economy and Finance department, the non-compliance has been described as "minimal" and attributed to unforeseen circumstances that arose in December 2025, when it was no longer possible to implement corrective measures. Two main operations contributed to this overspending during the budget closure.
The primary cause was the public sector salary increase, approved by Royal Decree-Law 14/2025, which had an impact of 39.2 million euros on municipal accounts. The second operation was the refund of income to Real Madrid, a decision by the European Commission dating back to 2015, which also affected the settlement of the past fiscal year.
“"The deviation is conjunctural, not structural. Therefore, in 2026, it will not be necessary to adopt additional measures."
The municipal government has insisted that the deviation is conjunctural and not structural, assuring that no additional measures will be necessary in 2026. The strategy is to present this plan as a formal obligation derived from the budget closure, without implying extraordinary adjustments or restrictions. This plan is a direct consequence of the 2025 budget settlement, approved by the Governing Board in March of this year, and of which the Plenary was informed in its ordinary session on March 24.
