The spokesperson for Vox in the General Board of the Principality, Carolina López, has lashed out at the "absolute incapacity, silence, and negligence" that, in her opinion, is being demonstrated by the Minister of Rural Affairs, Marcelino Marcos, regarding the non-payment of the aids from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aimed at organic production farms.
In a statement sent to the media, López reproaches that the regional Administration has blocked 1.37 million euros corresponding to 170 organic farmers, a budgeted amount that, as she recalls, should have been paid before the past June 30.
"With the legal deadline expired and in the middle of August, the regional Executive continues without depositing the funds and without giving any response to the affected families," the spokesperson pointed out, who denounces that "this inaction causes a genuine fiscal sabotage" to the sector. By not having been paid before June 30, she warns, the beneficiaries could end up concentrating the collection of two campaigns in the same fiscal year, which "will spike the taxable base, forcing them to pay an extra tax cost derived solely from the Government's negligence."
López emphasizes that "this institutional suffocation coincides with a critical scenario for the sector, hit by drought and the drop in meat prices caused by the entry into force of the Mercosur agreement, supported in Europe by PP and PSOE."
In light of this situation, the Vox representative demands public explanations from the Minister of Rural Affairs, the immediate payment of the 1.37 million euros pending to the organic farmers, and the implementation of a regional tax bonus or compensation that "neutralizes the impact" on the personal income tax (IRPF), so that "no farmer pays an extra euro for the Administration's delay."
"It is unacceptable that, in the face of the ongoing crisis that the livestock sector is experiencing, we have a minister hiding and unable to face the situation. The sector is bleeding while the Ministry remains silent," López concluded.