In the year since Spain's National Competition Commission (CNC) was formed, the agency has taken steps to establish a structure and organisation capable of vigorous enforcement. The effort has paid dividends, competition specialists say, with the CNC's enforcement results improving enormously over the past 12 months. The statistics confirm this. The agency's budget and workforce both increased in 2008, when the CNC had €2 million added to its coffers and 41 employees to its roster. It hired a chief economist, Juan Delgado Urdanibia, to lead its newly formed bureau of economics as part of an agency-wide restructuring intended to mirror that of the European Commission's Directorate of Competition. The CNC says that 2008 was focused on building agency structure. But competition sources say that focus has not stopped the agency from actively defending competition in Spain - something sources say its predecessor agencies often struggled with.