The Plenary of the Parliament of Cantabria agreed this Monday, with the support of all groups and the non-attached deputy Cristóbal Palacio, to begin the processing of the bill with which it is intended to provide the autonomous community with new regulations for Cultural Heritage.
Although Vox has voted in favor of the consideration —a step that prevents the registration of amendments in their entirety—, it has warned that the articles have "a marked subtle ideological profile" and "opens the door to important dangers".
The initiative, presented by PP and PRC, pursues among its objectives reducing bureaucratic burdens, advancing in the digitalization of records and increasing the minimum investment of the Public Works budget to 2% of the total, adding an additional 1% specifically aimed at landscape and cultural rehabilitation, as the proponents explained when registering the text.
The project incorporates new protection figures and expands the concept of cultural heritage, which will include, in addition to material assets, intangible, digital, industrial, and landscape heritage.
Among the most relevant changes, in addition to these new categories, the creation of an interconnected General Register of Cultural Heritage is foreseen, the specific regulation of emerging heritage —such as scientific, technological, and audiovisual— and the implementation of strategic planning instruments, including the Cantabria Cultural Heritage Plan.
The promoting groups have reiterated their willingness to introduce changes that contribute to perfecting the norm and reaching a text that "is of all and for all".
The projected law will replace the current regulation, in force since 1998 and which, as all parties have admitted, has become "obsolete".
Several spokespersons have recalled that the current law has been a "good" norm, but have stressed that its update is essential.
The PP deputy Miguel Ángel Vargas has emphasized that the aim is to provide Cantabria with "21st-century" legislation to "continue protecting what is ours" and that it is "in line with and responds to current needs".
Along the same lines, the regionalist Paula Fernández has celebrated that with the taking into consideration, the processing of a "necessary, modern, and ambitious law" begins, "designed for the Cantabria of today and for the Cantabria of tomorrow," and has highlighted the contribution to the text of Javier López Marcano, who passed away on April 2nd.
Vox's Criticisms of an "Ideological" Text
The party that has shown the toughest stance against the proposal of the popular and regionalists has been Vox, which has committed to "lifting carpets" on the "dangers" that, in its opinion, the project holds.
According to its spokesperson, Leticia Díaz, the text drafted by PP and PRC "confuses protection with administrative interventionism."
She has reproached that it "expands the concept of heritage without limits; creates new bodies and structures; increases control over owners and municipalities to the limit, and leaves numerous essential aspects for regulatory development."
Furthermore, she maintains that the proposition "is not born exclusively from a cultural urgency" but rather responds to the "convenience and political toll" that the PP must assume for the budget agreement with the PRC.
"It is the price of the minority government to maintain the seat, handing over the keys to the regulation of our identity to those who have made particularism their modus vivendi," Díaz has criticized, warning that her group will "dismantle every ideological trap, disguised kiosk, and every aggression to property rights" that "has crept" into this bill.
From the PP, they have rejected having handed over "anything," recalling that heritage "belongs to the Cantabrians," and have lamented that Vox, in view of its statements, "excludes itself" from contributing to improving the articles.
The PSOE, for its part, has agreed on the convenience of Cantabria having a new law, understanding that "21st-century cultural heritage can no longer be addressed with 20th-century categories."
He has stressed that supporting the processing "does not mean renouncing the debate" and has pointed out that the text contains "complex and sensitive issues" that "need to be improved and agreed upon." "A heritage law cannot be made from imposition. It must always be built from agreement," the socialist Jorge Gutiérrez has defended, assuring that his group faces the process with "a critical spirit, a will to improve, demandingness," and with "institutional sense."
He has expressed his desire that this "important" procedure be addressed "not as another partisan battle" but as a "true regional debate" on the heritage model desired for the coming decades.
From the socialist ranks, they have opted for a "modern, rights-guaranteeing, participatory, and balanced" model, which "protects without suffocating, conserves without paralyzing, listens to municipalities, respects professionals, incorporates innovation and technology, and understands heritage as a tool for social and territorial cohesion."
After overcoming the admissibility stage, the Parliament's Bureau will send the text to the competent committee, which will open a period for groups to request the appearances of individuals and entities they deem appropriate in order to comment on the content. Subsequently, a period will be opened to register partial amendments to the articles.