Fair funding deal for Valencia region
Agreement includes a train service to Alicante-Elche airport
FAIR funding for the Valencia region is just one of the terms of the agreement which the Compromís party has signed with the Socialist party (PSOE) in return for supporting the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
Sr Sánchez’s PSOE needed the backing of a number of small parties to win the vote in Parliament on Tuesday in order to be able to govern with Unidas Podemos.
Joan Baldoví is Valencian nationalist party Compromís’s only deputy in the Congress – but his support was vital with the coalition only winning by two votes – 167 in favour and 165 against.
Sr Baldoví had met with Sr Sánchez last Thursday to seal the agreement between the two parties.
He labelled the nine-point accord ‘a good deal’ for the Valencian people.
It gives the new government in Madrid eight months to present a proposal for a revised model of funding for Spain’s semi-autonomous regions.
And while the reform of regional finances is being approved in Parliament, the deal ‘guarantees that the Valencia region will be able to offer the same level of public services as the rest of the country’.
The funding shortfall has been a bone of contention for decades, with other regions of Spain receiving more money per capita for public services than Valencia.
PSOE president of Valencia, Ximo Puig has also championed the cause, calling on his party colleague Pedro Sánchez to bring in a system which does not include ‘privileges and discrimination’.
“All we are asking for is equality and justice,” stated Sr Puig in his New Year address. “We have been trying for too many years to resolve this problem, without any success.”
The deal secured by Sr Baldoví with the national government also includes more money for the regional health service to deal with problems such as the increase of population during the summer due to tourism and a guarantee that the state will provide its 50% share of funding to support patients in a ‘dependency’ situation.
He noted that there will also be ‘very important’ investments in railway infrastructure including a train line to connect Alicante and Elche with Alicante-Elche airport and a tunnel to speed up the rail service through Valencia city.
Other measures include vows to boost renewable energy, guarantee the water supply for households and farmers, and better protect the Albufera lagoon near Valencia city.
Valencian agriculture will also be protected by a measure which ensures that any agreement drawn up with another country to allow the import of produce would first have to be backed by an impact study on how it would affect agriculture in Spain.
There will also be funding to fight plant plagues such as ‘xylella fastidiosa’ which is decimating almond trees in Alicante province.