Contrary to what was stated in the statement sent by the City Council last Tuesday, the municipal budget of Alicante will not include in the 2024 financial year any item intended to launch an office to care for pregnant women. The Barcala government rectifies and the matter has not even been put to a vote, based on a technical report that both parties were already aware of when they announced their pact.
In fact, Vox leaders, such as Ana Vega, publicly congratulated themselves for having achieved “this wonderful agreement for all Alicante residents”, which included “offices to care for pregnant women with economic difficulties”, while at the same time attacking groups such as Compromís for referring to such facilities as “anti-abortion.”
Today, Thursday, after the commotion that this measure had caused, the Finance Commission of the Alicante City Council has reported favorably on the municipal budget project for 2024, whose amount amounts to 359 million euros, with the votes in favor of the popular government and the support from Vox, while PSPV-PSOE, Compromís and EU-Unides Podem have spoken out against it after all their proposals were rejected en bloc.
In a new statement that includes the statements of the Councilor for the Treasury, Toni Gallego, after exposing the 14 Vox amendments accepted (not 20, as said on Tuesday), the government team highlights that “the rest of the proposals have not passed the filter of the technicians and have not been admitted for voting, among which is the office of care for the caregiver or the pregnant woman. An ‘anti-occupation’ office that Vox also took for granted last Tuesday did not pass the technicians’ filter either. Whether there is an agreement for both measures to be incorporated later, time will tell.
Of the 225 amendments presented by the political groups, the municipal technicians have rejected 157, with 68 going to vote in the Finance Commission (28 of the 101 of the PSPV-PSOE, 18 of the 60 of Compromís, four of the 26 of EU- Unides Podem, 16 of the 26 of Vox and 2 of the PP). Of these, the amendments from the three left-wing groups have been rejected in their entirety, with 14 from Vox continuing – not 20, as stated on Tuesday – and two from the popular ones.
The municipal budget project for 2024 reaches 359.26 million euros, the highest figure in the history of the council, with an increase of 27.8% compared to the last one approved in 2022.
The meeting of the Finance Commission was held days after the PP and Vox announced that they had reached an agreement to carry out the City Council’s budget for 2024 after agreeing on the drafting and approval of the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE) ordinance. ), in which no sanctioning procedure is contemplated.
The pact between Popular and Vox on the ZBE ordinance has been rejected by the three left-wing groups, who have warned that its compliance would be totally unfeasible, as it does not comply with EU legislation, which would jeopardize aid from European funds.
The Councilor for the Treasury, Toni Gallego, has highlighted that “they are budgets adjusted to the needs of the people of Alicante, in which the main needs of the neighborhoods have been taken into account and that comply with the electoral commitments acquired by the government team. popular to advance the transformation of Alicante.”
Regarding the PSPV-PSOE, Gallego has stated that “the budget preparation phase reveals the minimal work of the main left-wing opposition group of this City Council.” “The lack of contribution from the socialist group, which has eight councilors and four advisors, is especially striking, and in some cases they have limited themselves to copying and pasting amendments from the previous two years, without contributing anything new,” he noted.
Gallego thanked “Vox’s support for the budgets proposed by the PP government team to continue advancing in the transformation and improvement of Alicante, while giving stability to municipal management for the benefit of all Alicante residents.”
The socialist municipal group, through councilor Silvia Castell, has denounced that “the drift of the PP government after its pact with Vox leads it to reject all projects of a social, sports, educational, housing, environmental and environmental protection nature.” heritage to improve the city”.
“Mayor Luis Barcala cannot accept proposals from the socialist group to improve the city because he is kidnapped by the extreme right,” Castell said.
The PSPV-PSOE councilor has warned that “Alicante is in the hands of a mayor who has broken any channel of dialogue and who will only execute initiatives that receive the approval of Vox, with whom he has signed an agreement that he has not explained to the citizenship”.
The proposals registered by the socialist group and that have been rejected by PP and Vox contemplated projects of a social, sports, educational, housing, environmental and heritage protection nature, among others.
Among these proposals rejected by the “PP-Vox tandem” – the term used by the socialist group – includes, for example, the construction of more than 150 public housing for social rental. “We cannot forget that in the last five years no public housing for rent has been built in Alicante,” the councilor stressed.
