The vice president and minister of Presidency, Justice, Culture and Sport of the Government of Aragon, Mar Vaquero, has intervened this Tuesday before the Finance, Budgets, Home Affairs and Public Administration Commission of the regional Parliament to explain the draft law on Budgets for her department. In her appearance, she stressed that "the 2027 budget project reflects the prosperity model that we defend for Aragon" and reiterated that "better public services, greater investment and more job creation can be achieved by lowering taxes".
Vaquero emphasized that "we are going to allocate the greatest resources in the history of Aragon to Culture and Sport", which, in her view, "means recognizing the importance of these disciplines in people's lives" and their incorporation "as priority areas into the Government as a way to prosper and have opportunities and well-being".
Along these lines, she detailed that the Culture budget "amounts to up to 34 million 742 thousand euros, which represents a 20.83% increase". Among the main objectives of her Department, the minister cited "progress on the Goya Museum, the assets of Sijena will finally come to Aragon and the Santamaria Foundation".
As she explained, "the permeability of these projects" shows that "we are betting on the structuring of the territory through culture and sport". In addition, the head of Presidency announced "Aragón Culture and Sport, a new instrument of the Executive, which is created with the purpose of energizing and supporting the cultural sector of our Community" and for which "almost 7 million euros are transferred".
The vice president also placed emphasis on the fact that "the Plan for Relaunch and Professionalization of Aragonese Sport will be developed". In this regard, she defended that "allocating resources to sport is investing in health, in the future of our young people and in coexistence and values", and specified that "some of the most important budget items in Sport are 4 million for sports clubs, 2 million for federative projects and 500 thousand for qualified high-level athletes".
As for the Aragonese Institute for Women, Vaquero indicated that "8 million 441 thousand euros are allocated, a decrease of a little more than 7%, which is brought about by the cut to the Plan for Co-responsibility". Despite this, she assured that "improvements in the resources for assisting victims and in awareness-raising and information continue".
Regarding the scope of Justice, the councillor has highlighted the "one million six hundred thousand euros earmarked to consolidate the transitory regional allowance complement, which increases by more than 14%, which will mean that Justice civil servants can experience a pay rise".
To conclude her appearance, Mar Vaquero has underlined the relevance of the "Teruel investment fund" which, she said, "is a great opportunity". She recalled that "this is the first time that a regional Government has managed to update the amount, moving from 60 to 86 million euros".
Political priorities and opposition criticism
From the PP, the deputy Elena Allué has valued that "these budgets turn our identity, heritage, culture and self-government into political priorities backed with resources". She has also highlighted "the 23% increase in Sport, with more than 16 million euros", considering that "this Government understands that sport is not a luxury; it is coexistence, health, equal opportunities and values training".
The socialist Darío Villagrasa has warned that "they have resources like never before and they have a great responsibility". He also pointed out that "they have to make an effort to renegotiate the rent of the city of justice because we believe there is room to save in this sense" and he asked "how it will reinforce the agility mechanisms to cover the pool of interim staff in the administration of Justice".
On the part of Vox, Ana Pardo has highlighted that "the PP-Vox pact has slashed spending on needless and associative expenditure in a drastic way". As she explained, "we have cut direct subsidies by half for mere institutional representation to the UGT and CCOO unions and the employers' organizations CEOE and Cepyme".
The deputy for CHA, Mary Carmen Bozal, has criticized that "the General Directorate of Culture and Heritage has barely 35 million euros, which represent 0.36% of the regional budget". She has also denounced that "while large projects are financed, aid to cultural associations remains frozen at 140 thousand euros since 2024 and, however, we find 370 thousand euros for the Torio de Lidia Foundation, with its headquarters in Madrid".
From A-TE, Tomás Guitarte has pointed out that "although the budget increases by 19%, it is a piece of data that is difficult to compare with the previous legislature because of changes to its organizational structure." Likewise, he has criticized that "when we look at the item for cultural promotion, we find a model designed for the major events in the capital while it suffocates the festivals of small and medium format that drive the rural environment throughout the year."