A closed expert session convened by the Fundación Hay Derecho in Madrid on 20 May 2026 brought together specialists in anti-corruption policy, public integrity, and monitoring and evaluation to begin developing a framework for tracking Spain’s compliance with international anti-corruption recommendations.

The session drew on a recent evaluation report by Elisa de la Nuez and Andrea Bravo, whose central finding is that Spain’s main challenge is not an absence of legislation but the gap between formal legal frameworks and their practical effectiveness. Across five policy areas — prevention, whistleblower protection, criminal investigation and sanctioning, asset recovery, and the promotion of an integrity culture — compliance with international standards is predominantly partial.

Discussions pointed to the need for a rigorous theory of change for each policy area as a prerequisite for meaningful measurement — one that goes beyond formal compliance checklists and captures whether anti-corruption interventions are actually working. The session forms part of a broader effort to develop evidence-based monitoring tools at a moment when several key international deadlines are converging, including the Council of Europe’s GRECO compliance deadline for Spain in June 2026.