The Parliament of Galicia gave the green light this Wednesday to a proposal by the PP that calls for measures to ease the sharp increase in fuel and fertilizers prices which, it argues, "are suffocating livestock and fishing activity in the face of inaction by the central Government."
"We ask for sufficient, immediate and effective aid. We ask for less bureaucracy and more coordination with the autonomous communities," said Miguel Fidalgo, a PP deputy in charge of presenting the initiative, which went through with the rejection of the PSdeG and the abstention of the BNG. Armando Ojea, a representative of Democracia Ourensana, backed the text with his favorable vote.
After referring to the percentage increase in prices, Fidalgo recalled that the European Union authorizes enabling support of up to 70% of the additional costs resulting from the rise in fuel and fertilizers, but criticized the Sánchez executive for having limited that aid "to a paltry 20 cents per liter".
In the same intervention, he also referred to the demand of the fishing sector itself, which calls for a minimum aid of 40 cents per liter, calculated on actual consumption and applied directly at the time of refueling. In this context, he asked "how much more the fishing fleet and the Galician agri-food sector have to lose" for the "Government of Spain to understand that this is an emergency situation".
The PP deputy also took the opportunity to attack the PSdeG’s opposing vote and reproached that Galician socialists choose to applaud what he considers the worst Government of Spain since the Transition instead of defending "those who produce, work, and sustain an essential part of the Galician economy".
Criticism from the opposition
From the Socialist benches, deputy Carlos López Font questioned the PP representative on whether he really believes that the farmers, ranchers, and fishermen of Galicia need the Chamber to approve "a new set of requests".
"What they need are concrete answers from all administrations, starting with the Xunta," he stressed, before reproaching that the proposal includes 10 demands but no measure involving concrete commitments for the Galician Government. For this reason, he urged the Popular Party to move from statements to the adoption of effective decisions.
On behalf of the BNG, the MP Secundino Fernández said that the PP is also “guilty by omission” for the escalation in prices, derived, according to his words, from an “imperialist attack.” Likewise, he criticized that the Xunta de Galicia remained in a “totally shameful” paralysis situation without approving “not a single measure so far.” “Both the Government of the State and the one in Galicia are accomplices in the lack of aid,” he said.
PP initiative on housing
During the same plenary session, another PP non-law proposal was approved, which in this case had the abstention of all opposition groups, by means of which the Chamber backs expanding the profile of beneficiaries of public housing by changing the maximum income limit.
The text was defended on Tuesday afternoon by the PPdeG deputy Moisés Rodríguez, who highlighted the policies promoted by the Xunta to “expand” the number of possible beneficiaries of public and protected housing through an upward review of the income cap required.