Royal Decree 515/2013, of 5 July, develops a general procedure for the determination and impact of responsibilities arising from breaches of European Union law. The existence of this procedure is a great novelty in the Spanish legal system, since to date there were only scattered and sectoral regulations in matters such as the management of funds, among others.

The third additional provision of the aforementioned Royal Decree determines that “the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations will submit annually to the Council of Ministers a report, which will be public, on the communications received from acts, sentences, or decisions of the European institutions that punish the Kingdom of Spain for non-compliance with European Union law, the procedures initiated, the decisions and the state of execution of the resolutions issued under this Royal Decree.”

Thus, the 2014 report is the first of the reports prepared by the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations as provided in the third additional provision of Royal Decree 515/2013, of 5 July.