general assembly Alicante County Council It unanimously approved last Wednesday the foundations of Plan + Cerca for fiscal year 2023, which will distribute $43.5 million among state municipalities. A day later, Generalitat chairman Ximo Puig counterattacked, announcing that Consell’s Municipal Cooperation Fund had increased its resources by 10 million to reach 50 million. The moves of the last days represent the last chapter to date of one of the major debates in the looming mandate, led by two politicians, Puig himself and the ruling party, who were summoned on May 28 to discuss the regional presidency. popular Carlos Mazón.
From Diputación, his Schedule + Close It triples the investment allocated by the Cooperation Fund to the provincial municipalities. The state agency allocates 43.5 million for the 13.3 from Consell. It is true that this calculation needs to be added to the additional 10 million announced by Puig just 48 hours ago. According to the estimate from the Provincial Palace, about 3.5 of this new 10 million will go. Therefore, Generalitat’s investment would remain around 17 million.
The approval of Plan + Cerca’s foundations for the 2023 fiscal year at the general meeting held last Wednesday enables the investment program to reach 103.5 million in the current period. These resources will be used to subsidize the claims of Alicante municipalities. investment and spending. A spokesman for the government team of Liberal MPs PPs and Cs said: “I am delighted to have the unanimous approval of a historic investment going into all our town halls and expanded with almost 50% more funding.” said. Javier Gutierrez. The person in charge of Infrastructures in the Provincial Assembly also emphasized at the plenary meeting that the project is “really Alicante”, unlike the Cooperation Fund, which was considered by the provincial agency’s government team to undermine Alicante’s autonomy.
Gutiérrez says Plan + Cerca is “fully operational and town halls». The cs spokesperson emphasizes the “flexibility and autonomy” of a project whose resources can be used for current expenditures or investments. «A plan that comes to stay, municipalities will not realize that it has disappeared. The 103.5 million in three editions is almost double the 55 million the Co-operative Fund has allocated in four years. It cannot be said that municipalities receive little money because the Provincial Assembly did not participate in the fund.”
The table prepared by Diputación, which accompanies this text, compares the investments of Plan + Cerca and the Cooperation Fund in all municipalities of the province. There are only two towns that benefit from the distribution by the Generalitat, two with the largest populations: Alicante and Elche. In return for the 777,853 Euros contributed by Consell, the provincial capital receives 535,000 Euros with the project of the state institution. In the case of the city of Elche, there is 540,000 euros from the Provincial Assembly and 630,245 euros from the Cooperation Fund. The rest of the municipalities benefit from the distribution of the supra-municipal body, the difference getting larger as the neighborhoods get smaller.
counties
In the provincial palace, the calculations were made according to the regions with two models, and the data is again in favor of Plan + Cerca. At Baix Vinalopó the difference is 1.3 million per 1 million. Generalitat Cooperation Fund. At Comtat it’s 5.5 million times 0.5 million, which is eleven times as much. 1.4 in Medio Vinalopó, 3.8 million times. At Marina Alta, 2.1 to 9.9 million. 5.4 million times 1.6 in Marina Baixa. 8.6 million times 3.1 in Vega Baja. 1.9 by 3.5 million in l’Alacantí. 2.9 million to 1 million in l’Alcoià. Finally, 2.1 million times 0.5 in Alto Vinalopó.
The State Legislature is also reviewing Puig’s move to announce the increase in the Co-operative Fund, one day after the state agency’s general assembly gave the green light to Plan + Cerca for this year. “His reaction is because we tripled the investment. This is a decision that looks great to us because it means more money for the company. municipalities of Alicante, suffers from insufficient funding and lack of investment compared to Valencia and Castellón. The State and Generalitat divide cannot be fixed with ten million more. Puig only remembers Alicante when the election comes and offers us crumbs,” says Gutiérrez.
His vision of reality is far from that offered by the Consell president, who sees the Co-operative Fund as a tool to allow “increasing the solvency and capacity of municipalities” and regrets the City Council’s refusal to participate. the project is unlike what Valencia and Castellón did. Puig also recalls that Generalitat started the fund. assistance to municipalities Although it was approved in 2000, in 2017 as no government has done it before.
alliance
The regional head also values the alliance between institutions to create new opportunities and overcome the challenges that have occurred in recent years, from DANA to the war in Ukraine, including the pandemic. In this sense, the Generalitat, although underfunding Suffering has established three more municipal finance funds, to which it has distributed 330 million in recent years. The funds that Puig is referring to are the Anti-Population, Tourist Municipalities and Forest Management funds whose call is expected to be published soon.
This week’s events confirm that the contention between the Provincial Assembly and Generalitat over the Fund for Cooperation is still very lively. Even the dispute reached Constitutional CourtThe PP accepted to process an appeal filed by the PP in defense of the province’s autonomy. In the judiciary, the institution that Mazón currently presides over imposes itself. Evidence of this was that TSJ rejected the appeal submitted by Consell in mid-January and suspended funding. The court’s decision was based on the principle of the Provincial Assembly’s autonomy and its role in assisting the municipalities of the province of Alicante.
284 million budget and largest extraordinary investment
Besides the recent approval of the foundations of Plan + Cerca for the current fiscal year 2023, Alicante Provincial Council has increased its budget for this year by 4.3% to 283.7 million euros. The government team of PPs and Cs underlines the support given to the productive sectors of the province in the face of the current crisis situation. The accounts also froze the salaries of politicians and advisors for the third time in a row. Alongside this budget, the institution headed by the popular Carlos Mazón is facing the final phase of his term with the largest extraordinary investment in its history: 106.8 million. The state agency has focused its subsidies this year on helping self-employed and SMEs and the most vulnerable groups affected by the energy situation.