The President of the Xunta, Alphonse Ruedainsisted yesterday that it is the responsibility of the central government, “with its fiscal measures”, to increase the rate that the Galician Environmental Society (Sogama) receives from municipalities for the management and treatment of waste. An increase of 42 euros per tonne –from 66 to 108 next year– which, as already announced this Wednesday in the Galician Parliament, will be assumed by the Xunta (24 euros per ton), against the remaining 18 euros which will be borne by the 295 municipalities served by the public company.
This was announced in collaboration with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Angeles Vazquezin statements after visiting the Sogama waste transfer plant in A Lama, which has been operational for nine months and serves the municipalities of A Lama, Cerdedo-Cotobade, Fornelos de Montes and Ponte Caldelas. A facility with capacity to process more than 8,600 tonnes of waste per year.
The regional president responded to some criticism from the opposition, which highlighted how the application of the tax on incineration and landfill, carried out by the Spanish government, responds to a European directive, recalling that “many countries of the European Union – have decided not to apply it. “The central government, which loves so much tax policydecided to apply them from the beginning,” said the head of the Xunta.
“We have always said the same thing, if these taxes are not applied, if these bonuses that the central government has decided to remove without notice and well before the deadlines set – in reference to the remuneration that Sogama received “Thanks to investments in its thermoelectric plant, the system would continue to be much cheaper,” the regional president added to the media.
On the other hand, he stressed that the regional government will assume 60% of the “new costs that come from these tax measures”, after acknowledging that he “perfectly understands” that Many municipalities will not be able to bear the increase alone. It will be next week that the Ministry of Facenda and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change will meet with the councils “to articulate the mechanisms that must be put in place” to transfer 60% of the costs to the Xunta, indicated the regional leader. In addition, the Government of Galicia will also meet with the Galician Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Fegamp), to explain how this transfer of funds will take place.
After the visit to the factory, Rueda highlighted the recovery infrastructure network of organic matter implemented by the Regional Executive. According to the Xunta, this network includes 17 facilities in total, including four biowaste plants (Cervo, Cerceda, Verín and Vilanovo de Arousa), as well as 13 media transfer plants, including A Lama.
“Whole” Bonus
For its part, the PSdeG has once again insisted on the motto that it had already acclaimed last Wednesday in the Galician Parliament: “Rueda pollutes, let Rueda pay” or, which is the same thing according to the Galician socialists, “the tax must be fully subsidized and citizens cannot pay even one euro more because Rueda is lazy,” said yesterday the spokesman of the executive of the PSdeG, Julio Torrado.
The Galician socialists considered the 60% contribution to the increase in the Sogama rate announced by the Xunta to be insufficient, stressing that, “no matter how much the president tries to pass the measure off as a good one”, in the opinion of the PSdeG, it is an excuse to keep the rest of the increase that will be assumed by the municipalities served by Sogama. “Now this measure is taken out of the park, but what does that mean, that it will keep the remaining 40%”, conclude the Galician socialists. In addition, they urged the Xunta to “start working on the model transformation“.
