The political course has barely begun and the Galician opposition has already made it clear what card it will play this autumn to try to exhaust the autonomous government. After trying to take advantage, to attack the Xunta, of a report from the Contas Council that questioned the contractual model chosen to build the Álvaro Cunqueiro hospital in Vigo, or that incited protests against the Altri factory in Palas de Rei (Lugo), now the munitions are called Sogama. The public company will increase from 78 to 108 euros the amount it charges municipalities for each tonne of waste it manages. And both in the ranks of the PSG and in those of the BNG, they are trying to take advantage of it.
The Sociedade Galega do Medio Ambiente (Sogama) is a company jointly owned by the Xunta (51%) and Gas Natural Fenosa (49%) that is responsible for treating waste generated in the majority of Galician municipalities. In a letter recently sent to his councilors, to which ABC had access, the president of Sogama, Javier Domínguez, explained that They have no choice but to decree this increase for 2025 because of the “unsustainable economic situation” of its accounts, with losses of 18 million euros the previous year, a consequence of several “unilateral decisions” taken by the government of Pedro Sánchez.
A forced decision
Since 2023, the central executive has implemented new taxes related to waste management that “are damaging Sogama’s accounts,” according to its president. For this reason, Domínguez affirms that to “mitigate” this situation, and after studying “different alternatives,” the company has no other option. In the same letter, it is stated that the cost of treatment per ton of waste will cost Sogama 39 euros more per ton. An additional cost that Sogama decided last year to assume “alone,” but now, In an “exercise of responsibility”, he is forced to increase the fees which charges municipalities up to 108 euros per tonne, or 30 euros more.
“We are the victims, the only one responsible is the central government with its decisions and impositions”
Javier Dominguez
President of Sogama
But the opposition, in its eagerness to try to exhaust the Xunta and its president, Alfonso Rueda, does not pay attention to all these explanations and accuses the regional administration without considering more nuances. On Friday, for example, the socialist deputy Paloma spoke out in the storm Castro will accuse Xunta and Sogama of “lying” about the reasons for the increase and to ensure that the “only justification” is that the public company “maintains million-dollar profits.”
The socialist MP admits that the increase of 39 euros that Sogama has to face is due to a tax collected by the central government law on waste and polluted soil, but adds that it responds to the compliance with a European directive that taxes a form of “highly polluting” waste management, as is the case in Galicia. “We insist that Alfonso Rueda move towards more sustainable management, instead of making the negative consequences of their current management fall on the municipalities, and therefore on the neighbors,” added the deputy.
Opinion of the municipal council
Some socialist and nationalist mayors have joined the criticism. Vigo city councilor Abel Caballero, in his umpteenth attempt to construct a victim narrative based on the Xunta’s alleged contempt for the city of olives, called the tax increase a “scam.” Caballero took out the broad brush from his briefcase on Friday to assure that “Rueda is swindling Vigo” and “he only thinks of Vigo to take the city’s money.” The mayor of Santiago, the nationalist Goretti Sanmartín, has also not missed the opportunity to attack the euros more and more each year.
This Sunday, in statements to ABC, the president of Sogama responded to the nationalists and socialists by insisting that the increase in the tax It is “an exercise in responsibility, viability and sustainability” of the company itself, after a series of “unilateral” decisions by the Sánchez government in tax matters. And he accuses the opposition of now crying foul after having kept silent when it had the opportunity to present allegations against the new state regulations.
Then the Xunta called the municipal entities, presided over by socialist mayors, and they “looked the other way.” That’s why I am surprised by these abrupt statements they are making now. the mayors of the PSOE and the BNG, even though they were the ones who approved the law with their votes,” explains Domínguez.
“They are wrong to point the finger at the culprit. The Xunta, the Sogama, the municipalities and the citizens are the victims of this situation, and the only culprit is the central government, with its decisions and its impositions,” the president of Sogama told the newspaper, highlighting a solution that seems unlikely: “If the central government cancels the new taxes created, tomorrow Sogama could return to restore the previous canon.
