The president of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, has called on the secretary general of the PSOE-Aragón, Pilar Alegría, and on the mayor of Pedrola, Manuela Berges, to withdraw the contentious-administrative appeal filed with the High Court of Justice of Aragon (TSJA) against the PIGA of the battery gigafactory of Stellantis and CATL in Figueruelas (Zaragoza), intended for the manufacture of electric vehicles.
Azcón has defended that "it makes no sense to file appeals when no allegations were on record, when they provide no direct benefit to their municipalities; what it does is harm Aragonese people" and has stressed that Aragon "today is in a historical moment of attracting investment," assuring that the regional Executive will maintain this line of work.
He made these statements in Figueruelas, at a campaign event alongside the PP candidate for Congress for Zaragoza, Rocío Dívar. According to Azcón, the PSOE "says no to everything and says no to strategic investments" in both automotive and technology, which are reaching the community.
He has reproached that "before, the Socialist Party thought that investments that created jobs had to be given a red carpet while they were in government. Now that the Popular Party is in government, when investments come that are much more important than those they were capable of attracting, they dedicate themselves to filing legal appeals, to trying to sabotage the work that is done from the government."
In his remarks to the media, Azcón has insisted that the appeal by the City Council of Pedrola against one of the largest investments planned in Aragon is, in his view, "a "terrible piece of news for attracting investment throughout all of Aragon".
Criticism of the "sanchismo" and defense of the investment
During the campaign, Azcón said that this situation makes it possible to verify the "true nature of sanchismo of knowing what it is that really matters to the PSOE, which is not the future that is not prosperity, but rather its own electoral interests above all else".
He emphasized that "not everything is valid for doing politics in an election campaign" and added that "to sabotage one of the most important investments in the history of the autonomous community is what it does to demonstrate the true nature of sanchismo, the true nature of those who represent Pedro Sánchez in this autonomous community".
The Aragonese president has recalled that both the City Council of Figueruelas and that of Pedrola "are going to be directly benefited from the draw of this investment" thanks to the Construction, Installations and Works Tax (ICIO), which is paid in a single payment and constitutes one of the advantages incorporated into the projects of general interest of Aragon in order to attract companies.
He added that, while the plant is operational, the town councils will receive millionaire income through taxes on economic activity and the Real Estate Tax, and he warned that "you cannot sabotage the future of Aragon. You cannot sabotage the strategic investments that are coming to our autonomous community, thinking only and exclusively about their own navel."
Azcón directly blamed the mayor of Pedrola: "This, unfortunately, is done by Manuela Berges, who is a direct collaborator of Pilar Alegría. The mayor of Pedrola is number two in the Socialist Party throughout all of Aragon. And what happens is that it annoys them," he said, arguing that the PSOE "does not want Aragon to move forward with a government of the Popular Party" and describing this attitude as "political narrow-mindedness and myopia."
He highlighted that the battery factory will be a milestone, since, in addition to consolidating current employment, the €4,000 million in investment will make it possible to create 4,000 new jobs, to which those generated in auxiliary companies of the automotive sector in municipalities such as Borja, Mallén, or the own Pedrola will be added.
Likewise, he reproached Berges that she "has lost 750,000 euros" from the Provincial Council of Zaragoza, while he calls on the Aragonese Government "for an investment of 800,000 euros that it had never requested in the submissions for the battery factory." For this reason, he maintained that the alderwoman will have to explain "why she puts the interests of her party first and why electoralism is more important than the creation of jobs in Pedrola."
In his view, it is the "continuation of that wall policy, of a policy that only wants to divide and confront the Spanish." In his judgment, since the arrival of Pilar Alegría in Aragon, the PSOE "has settled into saying no to everything, no to whatever benefits Aragon and the people of Aragon."
Debate on regional funding
Azcón has cited regional funding as an example of this stance, an area which, he has recalled, "traditionally had generated a very important consensus in the autonomous community." He has lamented that the PSOE "puts itself against depopulation," a criterion that he considers "fair that" Aragon "needs" for the distribution of resources coming from state taxes.
In his analysis, regional funding is a "magnificent example of what socialism has become," which he has summed up as "breaking with equality by thinking about a funding model for public services tailored to the measure of Esquerra Republicana de Cataluña and defending that model even if it harms the people of Aragon. It is a curious way of understanding socialism."
Commitments of the PP with the Aragonese economy
For her part, Rocío Dívar has assured that with Feijóo decisions will be made "thinking about citizens, not about the interest of the party in power."
She has argued that "it is about fostering institutional collaboration between administrations; that is what Alberto Núñez Feijóo proposes with this national reconstruction in which our program is summarized. It is about supporting our productive fabric, not abandoning it, not using it and much less putting it at risk, as the PSOE is doing."
According to Dívar, "this has not been a mistake; it is a way of governing that we must urgently change. The elections are about the interests of our citizens, their future, employment, talent, prosperity. Here we are not talking about slogans; here we are talking about proven facts. We just have to look at the policies that the President Azcón in the Government of Aragon has been applying for almost four years and that are transforming our economy hand in hand with the sectors."
She has highlighted that Aragon looks to the future with investments such as the gigafactory of Stellantis and CATL and with projects in the technological sphere, which are placing the community "at the summit of the forefront, momentum, and the generation of opportunities, hand in hand with the Government of Aragon," and she has referred to the DAT Alierta, which will integrate research, innovation, talent, employment and opportunities.
She has also mentioned the investments of Grupo Costa in the Agro-Food Logistics Center of Villamayor, with 896 million euros planned and an estimate of 5,300 jobs, mainly technical ones and linked to biotechnology.
For this reason, he has defended that political change is essential and has assured that "we will work so that Spain closes the productivity gap with Europe, we will support talent and the creation of jobs".
Finally, the president of PP-Zaragoza, Ramón Celma, has reiterated the need to continue attracting investment, as the Government of Jorge Azcón is doing, because "they create jobs and establish the population in the territory".