The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, said today that the work of the Government of Pedro Sánchez “is our best guarantee to make 2025 the best year for the progress and well-being of Galicia, with more than 14 billion euros in investments. He did so during a press breakfast in Santiago, in which he gave an account of the main axes of action of the Government in the financial year 2024 and the scenario for this year.
In this respect, he indicated that Galicia will have this year, in addition to the funds of the Recovery Plan, “with the largest deliveries according to its history”, amounting to 10,262 million euros and representing 9.5% more than in 2024. This is in addition to the settlement of 2023, which puts the total amount at 10,857 million euros.
For Pedro Blanco, these contributions “are another sign of the commitment of the Government of Pedro Sánchez with Galicia”, that his seven years of mandate received 40% more resources than in the seven years of the PP.
In this regard, the delegate also highlighted the different social and economic policies adopted by the Government “that offer opportunities and correct inequalities” and that will be strengthened this year and the following to advance the well-being of the Galicians and Galicians
Therefore, he appealed to the responsibility of the Galician People’s Party so that when the time comes, it can support the accounts that the government is preparing “because the opposite would be to vote against Galicia”.
However, he believes that Galicia still has many opportunities to continue transforming its economy and consolidating job creation with the Recovery Plan, which represents “a unique opportunity”. “The government is taking these funds to each and every one of the Galician municipalities. We ask the Xunta for greater agility and diligence in the execution of the 1,545 million allocated to it, since it has 786 million unallocated, 51% of the total,” he regretted.
Dynamization and economic momentum
The delegate reported that the Recovery Plan has almost 48,000 beneficiaries in Galicia, from autonomous large companies, through municipalities, foundations and other types of entities. For Pedro Blanco, the funds of the Recovery Plan reach the business fabric through programs such as the Digital Kit, which benefited more than 35,200 small businesses and left more than 145 million euros.
Tourism and trade play a key role in this commitment to sustainability and digitalization. In Galicia, one in two municipalities are already benefiting from the Government’s more than 200 million euros for the transformation and modernization of the tourism sector, while in the field of trade projects were promoted to make urban and rural markets more sustainable and strengthen commercial activity in tourist areas, with a contribution of 23.29 million euros. The delegate also stressed the Government’s support for strategic sectors such as the Galician naval sector that resurface with contracts such as the F-110 series frigates for the Spanish Navy, with more than 4.3 billion euros for Navantia; or the agri-food sector, with 410 million euros in direct aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to farmers and farmers in recent years.
The transition to a more efficient, social and sustainable model is another of the axes of action. In this area, the Government allocates more than 150 million in Galicia to the development of green energy projects to reindustrialize the Community, supporting green hydrogen initiatives, thermal production with solar or xeothermal energy, or the use of offshore wind or wind energy, among others.
Protection Welfare State
In addition to promoting the transformation of the productive model, other axes of action of the Government are responding to the needs of the population and improving people's lives. In this regard, the delegate recalled that the Executive of Pedro Sánchez committed 526 million euros to promote housing policies in Galicia, an investment that will allow the construction of 1,406 public homes and the rehabilitation of more than 18,000 homes in the community.
Thanks to the Government’s commitment to link the increase in pensions to the IPC, the nearly 800,000 pensions of Galicians and Galicians increase more in one year than in all the years together of the PP executives. And just as pensions grew, so did wages. Thus, the delegate pointed out that since the government of Pedro Sánchez, the minimum wage rose almost 400€, more than 54%, compared to the 736 euros left by the PP. Now, the 135,900 Galician workers who receive the legal minimum charge 1.134 euros per month.
In Galicia there are 82,000 beneficiaries of the Minimum Vital Income, which, like pensions, was revalued this year by 2.8%. And in terms of dependence, the Government doubled the contribution of funds to Galicia, already covering 40.7% of the total expenditure in this area. In the last year alone, it transferred almost 210 million euros to the Xunta, said Blanco.
These benefits must be added to other aid, such as the 61 million euros to finance reductions in road transport, which will be extended until June of this year, as well as the gratuitousness of mid-distance payments and the reduction in Avant de Renfe services, with 280,000 users benefited; or the aid to guarantee essential services, from which more than 96,000 families in Galicia benefit.
In the field of education, the delegate stressed the increase in the stock exchanges and their amount, with 136 million euros in scholarships to help the 54,000 boys with their studies. In addition, more than 15,300 18-year-old Galician girls and young people benefited from the Cultural Bonus. Although it is a regional competence, the Government allocated more than 90 million euros to transform and modernize the public health service of Galicia and also transferred 40.1 million euros to the Xunta for the development of co-responsibility policies.
To conclude this block, Pedro Blanco referred to the commitment of the Government in the fight against gender violence, with 84 million destined in Galicia to the prevention and fight against male violence.
Infrastructure and green and digital transition
The provision and improvement of infrastructures is another of the axes that mark the action of the Government in Galicia. The bet on the railway continues. The Avril trains were put into service, which allowed the number of users of the AVE connection with Madrid to be raised by 6 million since its premiere, in addition to increasing frequencies and destinations and reducing travel times. The route between Lugo-Monforte-Ourense was also put into service, with 550 million to renew the railway line; progress was made in the intermodals of the large cities (more than 250 million) and also in the railway accesses to the external ports of Ferrol and A Coruña, which add another 200 million. In addition, he reported that the Ministry of Transport plans to invest 4,561 million by 2030 in the Atlantic Corridor in Galicia. More than 1.3 billion are already in execution.
“With Pedro Sánchez in the Government, more than 650 million euros were invested in the improvement of the State Roads network in Galicia,” said the delegate. In 2024, the first section of the La-57 (Pontevedra) was put into service; the Orbital, in Santiago; the link of ‘Sol y Mar’, in the metropolitan area of A Coruña, or the roundabout of the N-6, in Lugo, actions that respond to the historical demands of the citizens. It also completed in record time the reconstruction of the Castro viaducts, which connect Galicia and the plateau through the A-6 motorway. Currently the Government is executing in Galicia 50 km of new roads that represent an investment of 387 million euros, including the remodeling of Alfonso Molina in A Coruña or humanizations such as those of Milladoiro (Ames) or As Pías (Ferrol).
At the same time, Pedro Blanco assured that the Ministry allocated 380 million euros to preserve and maintain the state road network in Galicia and more than 280 million euros to the payment of bonuses in the AP-9, for which it comes from raising the budget to 81.7 million euros, extending them also to the AP-53 motorway.
In addition, in 2025, the entire Galician territory will have a high-speed internet connection thanks to the government investing 275 million euros in the extension of broadband. In terms of sustainability, it granted aid to 48 Galician municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants for energy efficiency projects and has ongoing or committed investments worth 115 million euros for sanitation and supply improvement works.