The Ourense City Council will fully recover the 1.1 million euro subsidy that had been granted by the Ministry of Development for the first year (2015) of the reform and rehabilitation project of Market Hall number 1. The Ministry of Housing, which had requested the return of the aid, has sent the City Council a resolution in which it upholds the municipal appeals and confirms that no amount needs to be repaid.
This aid had been the subject of litigation between the two administrations, after the central government had claimed from the local administration the return of the initial amount (1,190,919.84 euros) plus default interest (244,345.82 euros), for a total of 1,435,265.66 euros, for not having justified its execution within the deadline.
The City Council returned the funds but filed a judicial appeal that resulted in a ruling by the eighth section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National High Court, favorable to municipal interests, which declared the nullity of the repayment procedure. However, the central government opened a new procedure this year for the return of this subsidy, and the Ourense City Council filed appeals demanding the dismissal of the procedure due to prescription.
Now, the Ministry of Housing communicates to the City Council a resolution in which it agrees to uphold the appeals filed, declares the Administration's right to recognize or settle the subsidy repayment as prescribed, and agrees that 'it is not appropriate to order the repayment of any amount in the present procedure, nor to demand the associated default interest.' With this agreement, the Ministry declares the repayment procedure finalized and orders the closure of the proceedings.
The City Council had already returned this amount to the Ministry in 2022, which the State must now refund along with default interest and judicial costs.
