The government delegate in Galicia, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, asked this afternoon the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, “shared responsibility” for the unique opportunity represented by the economic injection of the Recovery Plan to transform Galicia.
In his first meeting since the inauguration of the current delegate, Gómez Besteiro asked Alfonso Rueda to specify “what will be the contribution of the Xunta to the historical funds reached by the Government of Spain for Galicia, especially in those priority industrial projects that are strategic for our country”. He reminded him that other autonomies such as the Basque Country are already doing so and that, like them, it must be known “what volume of resources Galicia will add and to what projects” to collaborate with this transformation.
The government delegate in Galicia reviewed the investments deployed by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan in Galicia, which exceed 2.8 billion euros. Of these, almost half were transferred to the Xunta de Galicia for direct management, by virtue of the current distribution of competences, which means “the greatest amount of funds received by a Government of Galicia for investments,” said the delegate.
Gómez Besteiro reiterated his commitment to “shoulder to shoulder” and to “remange” to achieve the transformation of Galicia. In this commitment, the delegate made himself available to the president of the Xunta “so that not a minute or a single euro is lost for Galicia”, establishing a fluid channel of monitoring to advance cogovernance and accountability that is implicit in the management of these funds. This channel would be translated into quarterly meetings between the Xunta de Galicia and the Government Delegation.
The delegate focused on the responsibility that governments have to execute the funds, which, for the first time, reach the 313 municipalities of Galicia and the other territorial administrations. He highlighted the example that the local governments of Galicia are giving in the management of these funds, exhausting the calls, executing the projects “quickly and effectively” and “putting, in many cases, own funds that add to the projects that are developed in our municipalities”.
Faced with this reality, and after the well-known warning of the Council of Accounts of Galicia, Gómez Besteiro asked the president of the Xunta for the same transparency and efficiency in the execution of the funds transferred to Galicia, and called to “move from the strategic plan to reality”.
Infrastructure
The delegate and the president of the Xunta reviewed the state of the State infrastructures in the Community, such as the repair of the La6 viaduct in Pedrafita, the ownership of the AP9, the entry into service of the Avril trains or the Atlantic Corridor.
With regard to the A6 motorway, the government delegate transferred to the president of the Xunta the full availability of human, technical and financial resources for the reconstruction tasks “always with the premise of the safety and professional and technical qualification of the operators involved” and confirmed the established date of re-establishing circulation in the direction of Madrid before the end of the year.
Regarding the AP9, he recalled that the modification of ownership continues to be processed in Congress and that the bonuses approved by the Government are benefiting one in two users of the highway. In the Atlantic Corridor, the delegate put on the table the commitments of the Government with this infrastructure, with examples such as the improvement of the railway line between Lugo and Ourense, which is already being implemented.
They also evaluated the schedule of entry into service of the Avril trains. On this issue, the delegate stressed that the Government has already done everything necessary in relation to the political decisions for the Avril trains to have arrived in Galicia, subtracting only the technical approval process.
Coastal Management Law
With respect to the Law of Coastal Management of Galicia, the government delegate regretted that the Xunta had not opted at the time for the modification of the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia so that it had been possible to carry out “with legal certainty” the transfer of competence in coastal management, as other communities did. And he recalled that, with regard to the renewal of the concessions of occupation in the public domain, the Government resolved in a positive way all those that the companies requested since the entry into force of the Climate Change Law.
During the meeting, the government delegate and the president of the Xunta also addressed the housing policy, with reference to the availability of land owned by the Ministry of Defense for public housing and the transfer of SAREB housing for social rent; as well as the expansion of the National Police Seconded Corps and the promotion of Professional Training.