The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has requested an agreement from the Government of Spain to provide sufficient resources so that Andalucía can compete on equal terms with other autonomous communities. He has emphasized the need for fair and sufficient financing to guarantee public services and the urgent convening of the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council to propose a new financing model.
Following his intervention after the Conference of Presidents meeting held in Barcelona, he has deemed it prioritario to address the issue of autonomous financing and to modify the current system, which has resulted in Andalucía losing 1.522 million euros just in the last year, according to Fedea, putting it at a disadvantage compared to other communities.
He also recalled that in 2018, María Jesús Montero, as the Hacienda counselor of Andalucía, demanded an additional 16.700 million euros per year from the then President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, of which 4.000 million would be for Andalucía.
Furthermore, he has advocated for the creation of a temporary leveling fund to bring the worst financed communities up to the average and for the Government of the Nation to withdraw the debt forgiveness bill.
Moreno has addressed other issues discussed in this meeting, such as the lack of investments in infrastructure, especially in rail transport, and has called for investments of 544 million in electric grids in Andalucía to address the areas with the highest deficit. He also highlighted that provinces like Almería, Granada, Jaén, and Córdoba were the last to have power restored after the blackout on April 28.
He emphasized that Andalucía is the second-to-last community in the execution of State investments in infrastructure, and that it has thirty major railway projects pending that are crucial for the territorial integration, including the Atlantic and Mediterranean railway corridors, Algeciras-Bobadilla, the Zaragoza-Algeciras railway highway, the AVE to Huelva, and the Coastal Sun Train.
In a different vein, he stressed the importance of having a National Health Pact with more funds, more residency positions, and better conditions to retain the doctors and nurses being trained.
Juanma Moreno, moments before the start of the Conference of Presidents held in the city of Barcelona.
Regarding housing, he noted that if there is an impetus plan, it should be without imposing conditions on the communities and highlighted that Andalucía has the largest public housing stock in Spain, around 41% of the total, and has multiplied the number of protected housing units by four, with 13,010 new homes in 2019-2024 compared to 3,216 in 2013-2018.
The President of the Junta also referred to the fear of occupation as one of the obstacles to the rental market and advocated for the need to implement a National Anti-Occupation Plan with legal security for owners in case of rent defaults.
In conclusion, he lamented the current situation, the political turmoil, and the fact that the Government of Spain is not even capable of presenting a budget proposal, stating that in this situation of paralysis and deadlock, «the most sensible thing is to dissolve the Cortes and give the Spanish people a voice to decide what they want for the future.»
