The Andalusian president, Juan Manuel Moreno, has refused to put Andalusia’s demands on financing on the table of the meeting with Sánchez, thus complying with the party strategy set out by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who has asked his supporters not to negotiate bilaterally on financing with the president of the Government. A strategy that empties the Statute of Autonomy – a law with the rank of Organic Law that allows the Junta to negotiate bilaterally with the State aspects related to its financing – and that collides with several notable episodes in the history of Andalusian self-government, some of which were led by Moreno himself.
In the press conference he held after the meeting with Sánchez, Moreno admitted not having discussed issues such as the compensation fund that Andalusia is demanding to level its financing with that of the rest of the communities, considering that it should be addressed in “a multilateral meeting” with the rest of the territorial powers.
“As it affects the rest of the autonomous communities, I think it should be debated at the Conference of Presidents or at the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council,” added the Andalusian president, repeating the mantra he has preached since Sánchez announced that he would call, one by one, the regional presidents to talk about financing with them, after closing a unique fiscal pact for Catalonia with ERC linked to the investiture of Salvador Illa.
Along these lines, he has insisted that “it would have been more functional and operational” to convene the Conference of Presidents that he has been requesting – personally and on behalf of the rest of the PP barons – “since November 9, 2023,” as Moreno recalled during a speech full of reproaches and seasoned with irony.
Equality among Spaniards
Among the points addressed in the conversation with Sánchez, Moreno highlighted having spoken at length about “the Catalan quota”, starting by asking him to “reconsider this decision and withdraw this initiative”. “This quota weakens Spain, which is why the separatists themselves are demanding it”, Moreno criticised, pointing out that “Andalusia clearly comes out defeated if this financing model finally sees the light of day”.
According to the leader of the Andalusian PP, the special fiscal pact for Catalonia “breaks the principle of inter-territorial solidarity and equality between citizens”, condemning the existence of “first-class and second-class Spaniards”. Appealing once again to equity, Moreno said he had spoken with the President of the Government about the “grievances that Andalusia has” in matters such as dependency or unemployment.
“I told him that he has the challenge of uniting his country and that means giving all citizens, regardless of the territory in which they live, the tools to move forward without any privileges,” Moreno told the media after the meeting.
More control at the borders
The Andalusian president also took advantage of the meeting with Sánchez to present him with a document containing 100 complaints, similar to those he presented to him on the two previous occasions when they met at Moncloa, in June 2021 and July 2022, “and which are still pending,” as the Andalusian Executive adds.
Among the issues that “concern” the Andalusian president and which he has conveyed to the President of the Government on Friday, is migration management. “There must be maximum coordination and transparency, it cannot be that migrants arrive and we find out about it through the media,” Moreno said, referring to the recent arrival of 85 sub-Saharan refugees in the Seville town of Alcalá de Guadaíra.
In this regard, he has asked the Government for greater “economic cooperation” to provide the autonomous communities with the necessary resources to “provide services to the migrants who arrive in our territories”. Regarding migration, Moreno has also called for “greater efforts in border control for irregular immigration”, advocating a “regulated and planned” migration and rejecting “uncontrolled migration that generates problems for coexistence and for resources”.
Without concrete commitments
Finally, the President of the Andalusian Government has mentioned demands such as the review of infrastructures, focusing on the railway map and pending connections such as that of the Seville airport with the Santa Justa station. In short, “issues that interest Andalusia and that affect the future of our land,” as Moreno has expressed from Moncloa.
Before returning to the Andalusian community, he regretted that the meeting he held this Friday with Sánchez had concluded “without any concrete commitment for Andalusia”. “I am leaving empty-handed, beyond having had a conversation with the President of the Government,” said Moreno Bonilla.
“It is always interesting for government representatives to talk, to engage in dialogue, but it has to have a meaning, an agenda, an objective, so that we come out with some proposal, with some commitment, and that has not happened today,” the Andalusian president stressed, again pointing out the need to return to the path of multilateralism, convening the Conference of Presidents.
Moreno has thus closed the first round of meetings with the regional leaders that the President of the Government has called and which began this Friday with the meeting with the Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales. The meetings in Moncloa will continue on October 4 with the presidents of Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community and Murcia.
Source: www.eldiario.es
