It has been one of the biggest institutional clashes between the Generalitat Valenciana and the Alicante Provincial Council in the current mandate, and everything shows that the conflict will last to the end. One day after the state agency approved the foundations of Plan + Cerca for the current fiscal year 2023 at its ordinary general meeting in March, Consell chairman Ximo Puig said this Thursday. Municipal Cooperation Fund 10 million euros, that is, this investment project will distribute a total of 50 million euros among the Community municipalities.
allegation
The President of the Generalitat claimed that the Co-operative Fund was a tool to allow “enhancing the solvency and capacity of city councils” and regretted the rejection of the Provincial Assembly, an institution that would become its main rival in regional elections. On May 28, the popular Carlos Mazón will join this plan, unlike the Valencia and Castellón lawmakers. HE Puig ad In her speech at the Municipal Forum organized by Levante-EMV from Prensa Ibérica, the same publishing group as INFORMACIÓN, she reminded that the Generalitat launched the aid fund for municipalities in 2017, because no previous government had done so. ie even though it was approved in 2000.
Consell’s president valued alliances between institutions to address challenges and create opportunities. In this regard, he emphasized that generalitat, despite the insufficient funding it has been exposed to, has launched three more municipal finance funds, which it has distributed 330 million in recent years. The funds that Puig is hinting at are Anti-population, Tourist Municipalities and Forestry Management funds, which is pushing the forthcoming call order.
Diputación had approved its alternative to the Cooperation Fund. Schedule + Close24 hours before Puig’s announcement, this is the unanimously proposed . The project of the provincial institution has a donation of 44.7 million. The investment program, with a total mandate of 103.5 million, will be used to subsidize the investment and expenditure demands of Alicante municipalities. “I am pleased that the unanimous approval of a historic investment going to all our town halls and expanded with almost 50% more funds,” said Javier Gutiérrez, a spokesman for the government team.
After Puig’s statement, the People’s Party spokesman said: CommitteeEduardo Dolón denounced that the head of Consell “wanted to impose the Co-operative Fund without dialogue and forgetting the smallest municipalities in the state”. Of Plan + Cerca’s 44.7 million “almost the same amount Consell has allocated to the entire Community, which shows the difference in investment by the two institutions in the state,” Dolón said.
argument
Puig’s announcement the day after Plan + Cerca was unveiled is the final chapter to date in a debate that has dragged on for years. With Botànic coming to power, the Co-operative Fund was launched, and since then there have been constant conflicts with the Provincial Council, of which Mazón was already chairman, especially in this latter period. provincial institution. According to an estimate by PSPV, the province has lost one hundred million in recent years due to the Provincial Government team’s refusal to participate in the project. This fact caused a significant part of the socialist mayors of the province to demonstrate in front of the gates of the Provincial Palace on 20 December.
The dispute between the County Council and Consell over the Co-operative Fund reached the Supreme Court, which agreed to process PP’s appeal to defend the state’s autonomy. Generalitat’s latest setback in this area occurred in mid-January, when the Community of Valencia TSJ dismissed its appeal and put the case on hold. investment projectallowed the provincial agency to avoid having to allocate 13.4 million of its budget for this 2023 to the fund promoted by the district Executive.
European funds reached 360 municipalities
Generalitat President Ximo Puig took advantage of the speech in which he announced the increase in the amount of the Cooperation Fund to encourage them to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the European Next Generation funds, emphasizing that there are now more than 360. municipalities already have a project funded by this program. In this context, he noted that Generalitat has appointed a group of more than 300 experts in the management of European funds between municipalities and associations to offer advice and face-to-face assistance to anyone seeking funding.
Finally, he advanced the aim of the Council to pass a law for metropolitan areas in the next legislature, which, as stated, would require the consensus of city councils and would contribute to creating beneficial synergies for citizens from economic and social cohesion.
Likewise, the Generalitat President stressed the importance of the least populated areas as well as medium-sized cities as the focus of various investment and improvement programs promoted by Consell.