Burgos City Hall will withdraw the 119,000 euros in aid from the NGOs ACCEM, Burgos Acoge and Atalaya Intercultural, considering that they contribute to “the appeal effect” and “illegal immigration”. This was stated on Friday by the city’s deputy mayor, Fernando Martínez-Acitores (Vox), who appeared at a press conference to defend the municipal budgets for 2025.
The municipal accounts for 2025 will include the IBI bonus for large families, will delay the entry of the garbage tariff to 2026, will integrate the family perspective, will study the tax reduction plan and bonuses to encourage the implementation, conservation and the transfer of businesses. 50,000 euros also for “a bullfighting fair” which will consist of a bullfight.
The Vox spokesperson at Burgos City Hall defined the accounts for 2025 as “the most realistic in history” and that, in relation to “the national economy”, Burgos will not live “above its budget”. possibilities.”
Caritas will be spared from the “cut” in aid to NGOs, which will have 19,000 euros. Regarding the entity linked to the Church, Martínez-Acitores did not finish specifying the reasons although he assured that it does not “collaborate in the appeal effect”. For the deputy mayor, after studying the purpose of the agreement signed with the organizations and what the funds were used for, his “conclusion” is that “in one case it is justified and in our case it is not”.
During his speech, Martínez-Acitores wanted to downplay the importance of the amount withdrawn from NGOs. “We are talking about 119,000 euros out of a total budget of 250 million euros,” he said. Asked about the importance of this statement, the Vox advisor stressed that “in reality, where the emphasis should be placed is dignity rather than quantity.”
Immigration, “the huge problem” in Burgos, according to the town hall
During the press conference, Martínez-Acitores tried to justify a new polemic against migrants by emphasizing that they were trying to make their “concession of sand” to the “very big problem of “illegal immigration”. In June this year, the deputy mayor tried to get the municipal police to execute “periodic inspections, home visits and identity checks” with the aim of detecting “possible cases of illegal recording”. All this without putting forward data to try to justify a measure which, according to Vox, would make it possible to avoid “illegal” registrations to “receive aid or try to regularize their situation”. He also highlighted possible “electoral fraud” in these registrations, stressing that “all” the causes are linked “to cases of illegal immigration”.
On this occasion, Mayor Cristina Ayala, of the PP, had to disavow her government partner and recalled that orders to the Police are only given by them. Vox’s idea was considered by the Migration Ministry as “interference” in matters that fall under the jurisdiction of the national police and “for xenophobic purposes”.
“Illegal immigration is the slavery of the 21st century”
In Martínez-Acitores’ thesis to justify the withdrawal of aid of “119,000 euros out of a total budget of 250 million euros”, the Vox advisor indicated that he considers that “illegal immigration is the slavery of the 21st century. “The problem of deaths in the Mediterranean worries us a lot,” he added.
“Many immigrants vote for Vox. Not only do they vote for us, but we have affiliated supporters right here in the city of Burgos. Supporters, members, organic positions who are immigrants,” he noted.
“The fact that they arrive here and find themselves in terrible conditions, that they live in ghettos, that they have almost nothing to eat, worries us a lot, but we want to face it head-on. root.” From Burgos City Hall, as explained, which “reduces the call effect” to avoid this situation. To this end, the deputy mayor indicated that “these budget items” were allocated to other social purposes of the Department of Seniors, Youth and Children.
With these “119,000 euros out of a total budget of 250 million euros”, as the Vox representative indicated, the far right is cutting aid to various NGOs in Burgos within the municipal authorities. The PP accepted, even if it is an agreement which is the result of “a negotiation and not of blackmail or a threat”, as the spokesperson of the PP indicated on Thursday. government team, Andrea Ballesteros (PP).
“It was a request from Vox during the negotiation of the budgets and the PP does not agree, because these NGOs do a very good job, but it is a coalition government and the budget that we present does not is surely not ideal, even for the PP even for Vox,” explained Ballesteros.
Ballesteros explained that in the draft budget they maintain the same amount as this year, aid for international cooperation, which was also halved at the request of Vox, remaining below 500,000, during the negotiation of the 2024 budget, the first of the year. The PP-Vox coalition government after the 2023 elections. The only thing that the 2025 budget will include for NGOs will be a post to meet the obligation derived from this year, since 30% of the aid is awaiting payment, to which while waiting for them to justify the expenses.
