The deputy spokesperson of the Socialist Group in the Cortes of Castilla y León, Patricia Gómez Urbán, criticized this Monday that the Junta does not add regional funding to the funds it receives from the State within the framework of the State Pact against gender violence, limiting itself, as she has denounced, to the money transferred by the central Government.
In her speech before the Commission of Economy and Finance, Gómez Urbán directly questioned the second vice president, Isabel Blanco, responsible for the area of Women and Equality of Opportunities. "What do you put in? How many euros of your own funds do you put for the fight against gender violence, the one that this Government is supposed to be so concerned about?" the socialist asked her, questioning the real commitment of the regional Executive.
The deputy spokesperson insisted that the Junta should reinforce with its own resources the state allocations aimed at combating macho violence and accused the regional Government of limiting itself to managing the transfers of the State Pact without providing additional funding. "It is very difficult to follow the vice president in the story they want to tell us," she ironized, highlighting the gap between official speeches and budget allocations.
Gómez Urbán described as "cynical and hypocritical" that the regional Executive does not complement those funds and recalled that Alfonso Fernández Mañueco was "pioneering" in "getting rid of" the Ministry of Equality, a decision that, as she stated, exemplifies the lack of priority of these policies. In a critical tone, she linked this fact to the internal debate of the PP, reminding that the national president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will also not be able to claim that "merit," as the procurator of UPL Rosa María Quintanilla already reproached him in the same commission.
"That is Alfonso Fernández Mañueco's commitment to the fight against macho violence. He was ahead in agreeing with the far right and was also ahead in eliminating the Ministry of Equality," emphasized the socialist leader, who linked these agreements with the reduction of specific structures in terms of equality. In the face of these accusations, Isabel Blanco chose to stick to the agenda and defended that her appearance was focused on public accounts, rejecting to open other fronts of discussion.
Criticism for the absence of an LGTBI law and for housing policies
At another moment of her intervention, the socialist spokesperson has criticized the second vice president for Castilla y León continuing to be "the only community" without an LGTBI law. She pointed out that in the territory, hate crimes have increased, especially against this collective, while "there has been repeated voting against having the Observatory of Hate Crimes," which, in her opinion, evidences a lack of political will to address the problem.
Gómez Urbán has extended her criticisms to the housing sector, where she has assured that the Junta funds these policies "exclusively" with funds from the State and that it "is limited" to fulfilling "the minimums" set by the Government of Spain. At the same time, she reproached the regional Executive for announcing resources against the two royal decrees that established the cap on rents and halted evictions, arguing competence invasion. "Thus, we agree that the competencies belong to the Junta de Castilla y León," concluded the socialist, emphasizing the contradiction between the defense of competencies and the lack of initiative.
She recalled that "The State Housing Plan finances 60 percent and the autonomous communities are obliged to provide 40 percent. The money that the Junta de Castilla y León puts in is because they are obliged to provide that 40 percent. If that state plan did not exist, in Castilla y León there would not be a single euro from the Junta financing public housing policies," she concluded, reproaching the regional Executive for not going beyond the minimum required.
Disconnection with the territory and transportation problems
In the final part of her intervention, Gómez Urbán accused the Government of Alfonso Fernández Mañueco of being unaware of the daily reality of the municipalities of Castilla y León and of "dedicating themselves to drawing a map that they imagine in their heads, but has nothing to do with reality." As an example of this disconnection, she invited the regional president to travel to the Valley of Esgueva and personally explain to the neighbors "why they do not even have a bus," thus denouncing the shortcomings in public transportation in rural areas.