The official report from the Council of Ministers on Tuesday clearly reflects this: the Government approves a Royal Decree-Law with emergency measures for direct aid to people affected by the DANA in Valencia estimated at 10.6 billion euros. As specified in article 86.2 of the Constitution, this decree, which will come into force immediately so that the measures adopted can be applied, will also be validated by the Congress of Deputies within a maximum period of 30 days.
After the President of the Government appeared at the Palace of Moncloa after the Council of Ministers to detail the aid of one million dollars promoted by the Executive and ranging from 60,000 euros per household concerned to 30,000 for businesses or 72,000 for the disabled, it took the PP four hours to react to the announcement. And he did it in the form of a statement and accusing Pedro Sánchez of having launched “blackmail” against the Valencians in exchange for the approval of certain budgets.
“The fact that Sánchez’s priorities in this tragedy are to control TVE, to launch motions of censure or to obtain the budgets through blackmail is enough”, we read in this press release sent from rue Génova at 4 p.m. ‘afternoon. From then on, the snowball launched by the Popular Party concerning the attachment of aid to state accounts continued to grow.
It was the president of the Generalitat Valenciana himself, with whom Sánchez always avoided publicly confronting during his appearance, who gave birth to this false news. “Extraordinary economic measures cannot be linked to budgets,” he said on his social networks.
The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, spoke in the same direction, going so far as to demand from the government an “urgent decree” for aid five hours after its approval by the Council of Ministers. And he also accused the president of “blackmail” over budgets.
The popular Senate spokesperson, Alicia García, used another recent hoax, attributing to the president the phrase “if they need help, let them ask for it”, as a means of fueling another poisoning regarding the appearance this Tuesday. . “Sánchez, who says “if they need help, ask for it,” intends to make the national emergency caused by DANA his personal lifeline: if you want help, approve the general budgets of the ‘State. This is unacceptable and shameful blackmail based on an additional lie on the part of the President of the Government. Aid and the Valencia Plan can be approved outside of the budgetary debate. This is about ensuring that those affected by DANA urgently receive the help they need,” he posted on his networks.
Until now, the popular demand was for the government to decree a state of alarm that would remove its own colleague, Valencian President Carlos Mazón, from his powers. But what the people of Feijóo are demanding today, urgent aid for those affected by DANA in Valencia, is exactly what the Executive announced and approved this Tuesday with the approval, by the way, of the popular group of Congress, which pledged Monday to support the decree to Congress during the meeting held with Félix Bolaños.
In reality, the President of the Government at no time referred to the General State Budgets during the appearance during which he announced the measures already approved and explained the details. It was in the middle of questions from the press that, when asked about the importance of approving accounts which leave sufficient margin to deploy all the necessary aid, the president corroborated the importance of moving them forward.
“We are talking about very important numbers. In this first royal decree, we are talking about 10.6 billion euros. There are many economic resources, many others that we will have to request from community institutions and others that we will have to disburse from our public accounts. This should lead us to review the impact on the deficit and public debt. And find the most agile and efficient vehicles possible within the framework of the Budgets to be able to provide the most efficient and equitable response possible as quickly as possible,” he declared.
Without linking the aid approved today and which will be immediately applicable to the possible success of a public accounts project which will not see the light of day until late in 2025, Sánchez wanted to emphasize that in this context it is particularly important to be able to count on new budgets. “Of course we will need new general state budgets. If there was any reason to approve them before this dana, this time that responsibility is multiplied to colossal limits. We are therefore going to propose to the parliamentary groups a new budgetary framework to face the realities of each of the territories, in particular of the communities, in particular Valencia, which are affected by this climate tragedy. I hope we will have the majority support of the House to approve budgets today that are even more necessary than yesterday,” he concluded.
