The Vice President of the Board and Counselor of Deregulation, Social Services and Family, Óscar Fernández Calle, has announced that the regional government will carry out a "thorough review" of the programs and budget items of the Youth Council of Extremadura (CJEx), with the aim of eliminating those that are "overlapping" with the initiatives of the Youth Institute of Extremadura (IJEx).
"It makes no sense for us to be paying for projects of some when others can do them, and this way we do not double the staff," defended Fernández Calle, who defined this measure as "deregulation" and "rationalization of spending."
The announcement was made this Thursday during the plenary session of the Assembly, in the question period of the Socialist Parliamentary Group and Unidas por Extremadura, following the circular sent by his department urging to avoid the use of certain flags, symbols, or posters in the Spaces for Youth Creation of the community.
Regarding this instruction, he specified that it responds to reasons of "recognition and unity of the service" provided by the Spaces for Youth Creation distributed throughout Extremadura, which, he emphasized, are "open to all and not just to some."
Criticism from Unidas por Extremadura
In the debate, the deputy of Unidas por Extremadura David Araújo reproached that what bothers the Board is that youth have "their own voice" and opined that the Executive has found a "rather cowardly" way to try to silence it by calling "neutrality to the control of expression."
"What bothers you about an LGTBI flag? What bothers you about a feminist poster? What bothers you about a campaign for equality? Where exactly is the problem? If there is a crime, pursue it. If there is a hate crime, pursue it. But if what there is is an idea that you do not share, let it be expressed," he said.
In this line, Araújo maintained that a Creation Space where the Administration determines "what can remain on its walls" has "very little of Creation Space and a lot of guardianship," and questioned why there has been "so much hurry to regulate the walls" and so little to address the "problems behind them."
Among those problems, he has cited the difficulties of access to housing, the obstacles to emancipation, labor precariousness, and the salaries that prevent building a vital project. "These are the problems of youth and not a feminist poster, not a flag, or that we want to organize an activity," he has pointed out.
Therefore, he has emphasized that the work of the Department of Deregulation, Social Services, and Family should focus on "creating opportunities and not censoring."
"You do not want an organized youth, you do not want us to meet, to think, to discuss about housing, about employment, about culture, and about the future of our region. Because a youth that thinks does not resign. A youth that organizes disputes the future and that is what scares you," he has stated.
In response to these accusations, Fernández Calle has assured that the criticisms from the opposition confirm to him that they are heading in the right direction and that this has been "endorsed by the Extremadurans not long ago."
"Don't tell me it's not curious that you don't like us unifying the image of the Creation Spaces, of the 17 Youth Creation Spaces, when you, who are 1,373 parties, unify your logo and unify your image into one to present yourselves for the elections. Don't tell me it's not curious," he has pointed out.
The vice president has insisted that the Junta will continue to act in the same line and will apply "as much as possible" the electoral program of Vox, the party to which he belongs.
PSOE Warning about the Youth Council
On the other hand, socialist deputy Aitor Vaquerizo has warned that the Junta will have "against" its group if it finally does "what Fernández Calle has just hinted" and proceeds to close the Youth Council of Extremadura. "They will have us against them as when Monago tried it," he has recalled.
Vaquerizo has criticized that the Department of Deregulation, Social Services, and Family, responsible for youth policies, does not provide solutions to the real problems of young people, but does intend to indicate "what to think, what to do, or how to behave."
Likewise, he has described it as "curious" that those who "live off flags" and whose "policies are symbols" prohibit certain emblems in the Spaces for Youth Creation of Extremadura.
"The youth of Extremadura ask ourselves in whose hands we are, because they do not care about the things of eating. About housing, about decent employment, about mental health, about education... That yes, when it comes to trying to find some enemies of the homeland, there you are the first, because this is your policy, gentlemen of Vox, to believe that you are Spain and that you have to find enemies," he emphasized.
He added that both Extremadura and the whole country "are much more plural" than the representatives of Vox. "Extremadura and Spain do not represent you and Extremadura and Spain are too big for you," he stated.
In his reply to the PSOE, Fernández Calle maintained that the youth have already "seen through" the socialists and have turned "their backs" on them, and suggested to Vaquerizo that he take "a walk" through high schools and faculties, where, he said, "there are fewer and fewer young people who support them, more and more young people who are embarrassed to support them."
"You come to talk about freedom, the same ones who have contacted clans from Badajoz to eliminate a judge. By the way, the clans from Badajoz want nothing to do with you because you are worse than them," he concluded.