The parliamentary processing of the general budgets of the Community of Madrid is choking Isabel Díaz Ayuso more than last year. Conditioned by the proximity of the regional elections in May, the speeches of PP and Vox -de facto coalition partners- are distilling a hardening of their respective positions. It is nothing new with respect to what has happened so far this legislature, in which the training led by Rocío Monasterio has ended up helping the president of the Community to approve up to 19 regional laws. But it does indicate that this year’s agreement will not come until the last minute. And that the medal to be hung will be that of the health item.
In this context, the Vox spokesperson in the Madrid Assembly has declared herself unable to support the regional accounts because the response that the Ayuso Executive has given her to her proposals supposes “a humiliation for her voters.”
“Vox has been generous all this time giving the votes so that Ayuso could lead this Government. We have supported up to 19 laws and his investiture. And that is an act of generosity that should be replicated at a negotiating table but that, unfortunately, is not has given because none of the 87 proposals that we have presented to them have been addressed”, he defended. “On the contrary (…) You cannot go to a negotiation with a proposal that humiliates the opponent”, he emphasized.
In this way, Monasterio declares itself obliged to reject a budget based on these amendments. And she has advanced her intention to register hers tomorrow “so that the people of Madrid see what Vox defends.”
The ultranationalist formation is going to reject the express request that the PP has made and will make public its 87 amendments focused on “protecting the people of Madrid.” The Monastery considers it unacceptable that a budget like that of the Community that “will grow by 11.7% in 2023” does not include measures to deal with insecurity problems, or the difficulties that “self-employed and small merchants” are going through.
Although the focus on which Vox intends to pivot its strategy is that of Health. With a strike by doctors and pediatricians in Primary Care for 10 days, Monasterio considers it urgent to “protect the jewel in the crown, which is public health” and has proposed to the Community of Madrid to include an increase in the budget line to meet the demands of the healthcare collective, including a significant salary increase”.
In the draft of the 87 amendments, Vox proposes, among others, that “the item in institutional advertising (62 million euros) be reduced for the promotion of the presidency and that, in exchange, it be used to raise the salary of medical professionals from Madrid who deserve a fair remuneration” and that “an item of 1 million euros be urgently included
to improve the working conditions of paediatricians”.
In this way, Monasterio returns the budget initiative to Ayuso who, at the beginning of the week, had appealed to Vox’s “sanity and good sense” to be able to approve the accounts because they include a budget increase in all items.
