At Help Catalonia we like to talk about the FAES organization (Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies) every now and then. This mysterious entity acts as a think tank for Spanish nationalists, gathering the main spin doctors of Partido Popular, the current governing party in Spain. The foundation includes some PP ministers and even Spain's former president, ultra right winger José María Aznar.
Following the news that the Fundación Francisco Franco (Francisco Franco Foundation) is being granted public funds from the Ministry of Culture, we at Help Catalonia wondered whether FAES was receiving public money too. The answer is, yes it does.
The Franco Foundation received 83,070€ between 2002 and 2008 from the Ministry of Culture. It is certainly not a significant amount. However, it is a relevant fact that a state like Spain gives money regularly to foundation dedicated to the memory of a fascist dictator. Would that be allowed in the cases of Hitler in Germany or Mussolini in Italy?
Meanwhile, FAES receives astronomical amounts on a regular basis. Since the year 2003, FAES has received 3.4 million euros annually. This means a total of € 278K per month, or 26 million euros in the last 8 years. These public funds come from two specific ministries: the Ministry of Culture, which contributes the highest figure (19 million euros), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which contributes with juicy subsidies. Besides these public funds, which are also funded partly by Catalans via taxes—the money is used by FAES with bold proposals like to Spanishize Catalans—the Foundation also receives miscellaneous grants from various other venues worth more than € 3 million.
Two more details to conclude this article: If you visit the FAES website, apart from the usual lies, one can also discover "last year's audit." Surprisingly enough, it is not the 2012 audit but the one for the year 2006. According to the website, there are no audits for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, or 2012. Finally, FAES defines itself as a foundation of liberal ideology and against public funding.
Damn. Interesting info. I know it's all corrupt and dysfunctional, that's a given. But I'm always surprised by how they just keep on getting away with it. My feeling is that it's ultimately the fault of the sleepy sheeple for continuing to go along with the basic hoodwink they are seemingly subject to - whatever the 'country'.