The courts in Aragon held a monographic plenary session on regional financing on Tuesday, February 11, sparking a lengthy debate between the president of the autonomous government, Jorge Azón, and the eight parties represented in the Chamber. The session concluded with the approval of 11 resolution proposals, including one from the PP to include depopulation and orography as criteria in the new regional financing system.
Azón defended the aforementioned criteria, capturing the «feeling floating in the air» and committed to transferring this proposal to the Spanish Government, announcing that Finance Minister María Jesús Montero would appoint it on Tuesday to communicate it.
He addressed the Socialists to ensure that «there is no middle ground: either he is with Aragonese or he is with Pedro Sánchez.» The head of the autonomous government asserted that the community plays a crucial role in the future of public services and that it is necessary to express oneself «without hesitation,» rejecting the «manipulation and lies» of the central government, noting the «total opposition» to the Finance Ministry’s proposal to exclude these criteria, which he attributed to the President of the Central Government, Pedro Sánchez’s Pacts with the Independents.
«Aragon is getting a smaller piece of the autonomous financing pie,» and by 2025, Aragon will miss out on €87 million due to relative population loss. He estimated a €422 million revenue loss for the autonomous community if depopulation and orography are excluded.
Both correction criteria «determine a higher cost in public services that we assume in the community,» the 2021 report also includes the Aragon courts in a unanimous opinion on the proposal from all parties.
«It is essential that the real cost of services be the fundamental pillar, conditioned by depopulation and orography,» Azón declared, proclaiming, «All Spaniards have the right to receive the same services.»
### «Bull with Horns»
The spokesperson for the PSOE, Mayte Pérez, criticized the «opportunism» of the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in his stance on depopulation as criteria for correcting the autonomous financing system.
Mayte Pérez emphasized that, given the need to reform the fund distribution system for autonomous communities, it has always been the Socialists, both in the regions and in the Spanish government, who «took the bull by the horns.»
She added that the current Spanish government has incorporated depopulation as a corrective element in the new financing system, emphasizing that it «best and most fairly treats the autonomous communities in its state transfers.»
### «Abuses»
For the Vox spokesperson, Alejandro Nolasco, the state of autonomy is a failure and «deprives» the region of the necessary funds to save many villages in Teruel, Zaragoza, and Huesca. He labeled it an «abuse» that «the government’s number one in the UCO scandalizes this region,» referring to the Spanish government’s President, Pedro Sánchez.
However, he believed that «the main problem is the state of autonomies, their abuses, their intrinsic unfairness, their lack of equity,» so Vox «will fight to the last breath to put an end to policies of interests, personal, economic, and simple.»
### EQUITY
The spokesperson for Aragon-Teruel exists, Tomás Guitarte, defended «equity and territorial cohesion» and criticized «sterile debates,» advocating for unity.
«Depopulation is a real territory crisis, it has been shaped in Spain and the autonomous communities as a long-term economic process promoted by the disagreement and drive of certain public policies promoted by the two main parties,» he said. «We are facing a true state crisis,» he warned.
The Chaa spokesperson, José Luis Soro, rejected the Finance Ministry’s proposal, believing that «the problem» is that the Finance Ministry does not accept «a single proposal.»
Soro warned that if the Finance Ministry’s proposal goes through, «it is impossible to guarantee quality» in the provision of public services in the autonomous community.
Representatives from Podemos, IU, and PAR criticized both the PP and the PSOE for the positions they defend at the national financing level.
Therefore, Podemos Deputy, Andoni Corrales, assured that Aragonese know «that PP and PSOE will come to prioritize their electoral interests over those of our land and give way to what the most populous autonomous communities want.»
The Violet Formation representative called for «proper funds» to enable «having good public services, which cost us more money due to our orography, dispersion, or aging.» «We should not be more than anyone else, but we should not be less.»
From IU, Álvaro Sanz, reproached Azón for his «fetish exercise» in the regional financing debate and requested «rigor» when facing this issue. He lamented that the fund distribution model to autonomous communities is «expired» and «outdated by reality.»
Sanz explained that the «technical document» is not definitive, but a synthesis and «forces to position» regional presidents, but the PP «imposes a story» and takes advantage of launching «beats and attacks» at the Spanish government.
On the other hand, the Parents’ parliamentary, Alberto Izquierdo, emphasized that regional financing «expired in 2009» and then «was bad,» and thus, the amount that Aragon received, «historically, never adjusted to our needs.»
At this point, he asked, «Why don’t we open the door to direct state negotiation and explore Article 108 of autonomy?» He recalled that the Aragonese training supports a farm «and we will continue to demand it.»
### Allocation of taxes to Catalonia
In the debate, the Popular Group spokesperson, Fernando Ledesma, criticized the PSOE pact for Pedro Sánchez’s investigation, which «had requests such as amnesty and 100% transfer to Catalonia,» and the ERC Pact included conditioning €15,000 million in the Catalan Generalitat.
Ledesma said that the PP, led by Jorge Azcón, defends Aragonese «above all against what the PSOE does, what Sanchismo defends above all.» He also claimed to increase assistance to Teruel’s businesses to 20%.
### Motions
After Azón’s debate with the parliamentary groups, the Chamber discussed and voted on 19 resolution proposals, approving 11 of them, not only the five from the PP but also one out of the three from Vox. Conversely, the four PSOE proposals were rejected, as well as those from Podemos and the Left.
In addition to the PP’s proposal to include depopulation and orography in the new autonomous financing system, there are others, such as a sustainable financing plan for Teruel and one that will launch the Aragon Treasury.
FUENTE