The Councillor for Finance, Public Administration and Social Dialogue, Elena Manzano, has flatly rejected the total amendment registered by the Socialist Parliamentary Group to the regional budgets for 2027, considering that it includes "absolute barbarities" and "articles of faith".
"Half of it is a copy and paste and the rest absolute barbarities, articles of faith, absolute and ancestral adoration toward a leader who the only thing he has demonstrated is that he only prioritizes himself," she stated, alluding to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
These statements were made this Wednesday during her turn to respond to the defense of the total amendment to the accounts for the 2027 fiscal year presented by the Socialist spokesperson, Isabel Gil Rosiña, in the Extremadura Parliament.
Darts at Sánchez Cotrina and criticism of the PSOE line
Manzano began her intervention with a message of support for the injured and the families of the victims of the Urda railway accident (Toledo), and then pointed out that, although she was pleased to debate with Gil Rosiña, she would have "loved" to confront positions with the general secretary of the Extremadura PSOE, Álvaro Sánchez Cotrina.
"Honestly, I would have loved to be able to ask Mr. Sánchez Cotrina whether he has really read the amendment, whether he shares what this amendment says, whether he really defends what this amendment says, because if so, we have a serious problem in Extremadura," she indicated.
Thus, she maintained that, if Sánchez Cotrina supports the content of the text, he is embodying the "worst Socialist Party in history" of the community, by aligning himself with a central Government that, in her view, has tried to "annihilate" public services in Extremadura and that has assumed that the region must have "an empty plate" after receiving "zero euros out of 21 billion from the regional financing system".
"They position themselves alongside a president who blows up everything he touches and who has tried to directly attack the future of our autonomous community. Zero euros is nothing, the most absolute nothing," she emphasized. At this point she criticized the fact that, in the amendment, the first thing the Socialists do is thank the central Government for its "good economic and social management," something she described as an "absolute dogma of faith".
Likewise, he has censured the PSOE for calling the Government of the Junta de Extremadura "lazy" when, according to what he has assured, the total amendment is nothing more than a "copy and paste" of the one they already presented for the 2026 accounts.
Accusations of "articles of faith" and defense of execution
Among the "articles of faith" that he attributes to the PSOE, Manzano has pointed out the assertion that it is an "inflated and doctored budget that anticipates its own non-execution".
Faced with this, he has invited people to review the evolution of budget execution over the last decade to verify that the current regional Government has the "highest execution of the last ten years".
According to what he has explained, the Socialists also maintain in their amendment that the accounts include unauthorized debt, something he has denied by stressing that "every single one of the revenue forecasts is absolutely measured". "In addition, our situation regarding debt is, of course, being better managed and obtaining better recognition each time," he added.
For this reason, he has urged the PSOE to "stop scaring" and "stop lying". "Stop considering that we are like you because we are not, because we have demonstrated it and we manage much better," he pointed out.
In relation to the supposed "fiscal injustice", he has recalled that, when María Guardiola assumed the Presidency of the Junta, Extremadura was the autonomous community with the "highest tax burden at the lowest level of income", a situation that, he has emphasized, the current Executive has corrected.
"We are consistent, we do not give examples and then do exactly the opposite, socialist consistency. We have returned 128 million euros, colleagues. 128 million euros. In this budget we are going to return 49 million euros more and we are going to do it to taxpayers who have lower incomes," he stressed.
Environmental taxation, Almaraz and European funds
Manzano has also claimed as an achievement the reduction of the Tax on Installations that Affect the Environment included in the 2027 accounts, from which the owners of the Central Nuclear de Almaraz will benefit.
In this line, he reiterated the demand to the central Government to reduce the Enresa rate. "If it does so, we will not lower this tax. Let the State do it. Let the State take a step forward, it was already very clear to us that it wanted to close Almaraz. Hopefully now it can redress all that damage, reducing taxation and allowing us the review of that agreement," he stated.
Regarding the socialist criticisms about the execution of European funds, he replied that Gil Rosiña "cannot give lessons" in light of her management when she was a councillor.
"We honestly do not care that you do not like it, the people of Extremadura like it. Do you know what the people of Extremadura do not like? The people of Extremadura do not like this Socialist Party. They are 18 --deputies-- after having governed this land for 40 years. Now they are 18. Those people of Extremadura have made it very clear to them, we gave them the word very recently, that what they do like is the economic progress that this Government represents," he concluded.