The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, described the implementation of the Recovery Plan in Galicia as a resounding success, exceeding in four years the 4,000 million investments that underpin the social, economic and industrial transformation of Galicia after the pandemic. This was said at the informative breakfast held today at the Hostal dos Reis Católica on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the approval, in the Council of Ministers, of the Plan of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience. “Four years after that decision we can assure that we are fulfilling the objectives: that the Government of Spain complies with Galicia and with the Galicians and with the Galicians,” he said.
These data, valued Pedro Blanco, certify that Galicia was able to take advantage of the opportunity that the Government put on the table with the Recovery Plan to emerge strengthened from the crisis and consolidate a country that, four years later, advances with a firm step in territorial and social cohesion, is more sustainable, more digital and has a more competitive economy.
Of the total funds injected into Galicia by the Recovery Plan, the Government of Spain directly executed 2,298 million euros (53%) while Xunta received 1,746 million in the form of transfers (47%). Pedro Blanco pointed out that this balanced distribution reaffirms the Government’s commitment to co-governance and respect for the distribution of competences in its execution. This volume of funds, the delegate recalled, doubles each year the investment effort of the Government in the Community.
Impact on all citizens of Galicia
The balance of the Recovery Plan points out that 55,413 households, companies, and entities and research centers benefited directly from the calls financed by the Plan in Galicia. To this private impact, the delegate added the set of municipalities, Deputations and Mancomunidad, which also received different aids and improvements, both direct and indirect.
The delegate extended as beneficiaries of the Plan the 2.7 million Galicians and Galicians, “because, for the first time in history, a Government reaches every corner of Galicia, every region, municipality, parish, neighborhood, street and housing of Galicia”. Because, he said, all citizens are benefiting from the extension of broadband and 5G, from new technological equipment in hospitals, from new infrastructures or from the modernization programs of public administrations and justice, among others.
Of this total number of private beneficiaries, the data (which are published openly in the Recovery Plan web portal) indicate that 83% of them belong to the business fabric: 40% are self-employed and SMEs; 26% are large companies and 17% are temporary unions of companies. The figures are completed by 5% of households and 12% of foundations, research and technological centers.
A progressive response that works
Pedro Blanco recalled the circumstances in which the Government of Pedro Sánchez approved the great economic and social transformation of the country that represents the Recovery Plan, which was none other than “to promote recovery after the COVID pandemic and take this opportunity to modernize the country and guarantee a future of progress and well-being”.
The delegate said that the success of this Plan supports the decision taken four years ago by the President of the Government, who designed and defended a progressive recovery plan with an “alternative response to the policy of cuts that the PP Government had applied in the face of the previous economic crisis,” he said.
Government investments
The delegate reviewed some of the main investments that the Government is implementing in Galicia through the Recovery Plan, and with which he takes advantage of the opportunity of European funds to consolidate a long-term transformation of the productive fabric and promote the social and territorial cohesion of the country. Pedro Blanco structured this approach in three large blocks: sustainable infrastructures, social welfare and business and technological avant-garde, in which he selected different programs for the impact achieved in Galicia.
Regarding sustainable infrastructures, he cited the modernization of the Lugo-Monforte-Ourense line; the advances in the Railway Variant and the train stations of A Coruña, Lugo and Santiago, which exceed 600 million euros. Also the connection of the Punta Langosteira External Port, with more than 120 million euros from the Recovery Plan. At the road level, Pedro Blanco highlighted the work of humanization of crossings (Ferrol, Ames or Xinzo) and the improvement of safety in tunnels on motorways and highways, with 54 million euros invested in the A6 and AP9.
In Social Welfare, Pedro Blanco meant the commitment to the modernization of Vocational Training, with the creation of more than 14,000 new places; the digitalization of public education and the professional requalification of workers. In this same block, he mentioned the commitment to access to housing, with the construction of 1,200 social rental homes and the rehabilitation of 40,000 homes. She also highlighted the funding of the Plan for the Impact of Care and Dependency Policies, which amounts to 174 million euros of the Plan, and the measures to support vulnerable groups and women victims of gender and sexual violence, which already have five 24-hour care centres thanks to funding from the Government of Spain.
The third block, from which most companies, research centers and universities benefit, offers the highest investment figure of the Recovery Plan, which, for the delegate, “certifies the commitment to innovation and transformation of the productive fabric”. Under this heading, the delegate meant EUR 220 million for green hydrogen projects; more than EUR 136 million for electric vehicle industrial projects; innovation in the agri-food sector with EUR 32 million from PERTE Agro, or the decarbonisation of manufacturing companies and almost EUR 50 million to repower wind and hydroelectric parks in the Community. In addition, 41,300 companies and autonomous companies in Galicia already benefit from the Digital Kit program to advance the digitalization of their businesses.
These figures, according to Pedro Blanco, “are the best response to the industrial discrimination of which President Rueda speaks”, an alleged discrimination “that belies this reality: 83% of the funds have as direct beneficiaries the business and industrial sector of Galicia”. In addition, the delegate recalled that these amounts continue to increase month by month, since there is still more than a year until the end of the period of execution of the funds and important lines of aid remain to be resolved and convened. Therefore, “there is still room to add more funds for the advancement of Galicia”.
‘Execute, execute, execute’
The Government delegate regretted that the balance with which the Government made the distribution of funds is not reflected in the degree of execution of the calls by each Administration. Thus, he indicated that Xunta executed less than half of the funds allocated at sectoral conferences. Specifically, of the 1,746 million transfers received, Xunta issued calls for proposals worth 1,038 million euros, of which it has today allocated 814 million euros.
Pedro Blanco compared this degree of execution of the funds by the Xunta with the example that many companies and municipalities in Galicia are giving, which readjusted their work schedules and investment plans, and optimized the processing resources to be able to arrive on time to the calls of the Plan and take advantage of each available euro.
“I have a message for the president of the Xunta that summarizes in three words: execute, execute, execute,” said the government delegate. And he remarked that, faced with a reality that is that Galicia receives more funds than it corresponds to but is not executing with the diligence required by this unique opportunity. Therefore, he indicated “when I hear the president of the Xunta talk about good management and claim more money from the Recovery Plan, as he repeated again in the Debate of the State of Autonomy, I have to correct him and, in this case, also demand that he stop asking and start paying”.