A week’s work against the clock is approaching in the Alicante Provincial Council. As of this Tuesday, there will be only six days until the end of the current year 2023. A few weeks ago, the head of the provincial agency, Tony Perezannounced that the goal set by the government team is to present the next 2024 draft budget before the end of the year, leaving the door open for an extension of this year’s accounts. Therefore, there are 6 days left until the deadline set by the president expires, and as the hours pass, doubts increase about whether the planned road map can be achieved. The opposition, particularly PSPV-PSOE and Compromís, is increasingly skeptical, and its representatives are still waiting to be summoned to a meeting where they can express their budget priorities.
A few weeks ago, Toni Pérez announced that they were working at full speed to have at least the draft budget ready before the end of the year. To achieve this goal, he announced that Christmas would be busy around the world. CommitteeMeetings of the government team with technicians and opposition groups and a general assembly meeting, where at least next year’s budgets must be finalized. Although the draft is targeted to be ready in 2023, Toni Pérez mentioned the option of extending the budgets, which would be unprecedented compared to the previous tenure of Consell’s current president, Carlos Mazón. He became president because the accounts at that time were always approved and an agreement was reached with the opposition parties in every case except the last one.
Pressure
Due to the uncertainty in the Provincial Palace regarding the budgets, the opposition is putting pressure on the government team regarding the budget. Proof of this is the press conference PSPV held last week, attended by its spokesperson: Vicente Arques, accused the PP of wanting to prioritize the construction of congress palaces in Alicante and Elche in its 2024 accounts and the purchase of real estate in the centers of Elche and Benidorm to open the headquarters of the Provincial Assembly in the province. Arques criticized this commitment because he felt that it sidelined one of the institution’s greatest principles, that of helping municipalities with the smallest population and the fewest resources to meet their needs.
The PP did not ignore the socialist group’s accusations and argued that some of these infrastructures, such as the Elche congress palace case, had been agreed upon with PSPV. “They are criticizing projects that they considered a priority a few months ago,” the first vice president of the Provincial Council said. Ana Serna. In addition to questioning the government team’s management of the budgets, whose draft is still live less than a week before the end of the year, Compromís has also been highly critical of its implementation. with that of the provincial agency and Plan Planifica at 33% at the end of the third quarter. For this reason, they called for a protest at the gates of the Provincial Palace before the start of the last ordinary general assembly meeting.
After all, 2023 is coming to an end and a few days of intense work are expected in the sector this week. CommitteeThere is uncertainty about whether the government team will be able to meet the deadline set by the president himself two weeks ago. In a few days any doubts about this will disappear.