The mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz (PP), said on Wednesday that he had already “decided to demarcate” the space of the Plaza de España that belongs to the City Council to charge tourists between “three and four euros” for the visit. Sanz thus continues to defend his controversial project to close the monumental complex of this square in order to raise funds to finance “24-hour surveillance” in the area and permanent conservation works. A proposal announced last February and which has sparked a wave of criticism from neighbors and experts.
Already at that time, the local government had proposed to the State – owner of the building and the gallery of the monument – an agreement to completely close this monumental site and thus make tourists pay. At the time, the Minister of Finance and First Vice-President of the Government, María Jesús Montero, had categorically rejected the approach of the mayor of Seville: “Of course, the Ministry of Finance is not going to lend itself to it.”
However, Sanz reiterated his intention to “demarcate” the area that falls under the jurisdiction of the City Hall, that is, the outdoor space between the access railing and the provincial benches. This was expressed in an interview on the Cope network, in which he stressed once again that the idea is to charge an entrance fee to tourists, but not to those who prove that they are registered in the city or that they were born in the entire province. .
The building is “another story”
The ticket revenue, according to the idea of the local PP government, would be divided 75% for the municipal coffers and 25% for the State, guaranteeing, according to the City Council, free access for citizens to the State offices of the complex, which houses the headquarters of the government delegation in Andalusia, the sub-delegation, the immigration services, the Hydrographic Confederation of the Guadalquivir (CHG) or the staff of the army’s land force.
“I want to charge a ticket to anyone who visits the space of the square, the building is another story,” said Sanz, assuring that the City Hall can “delimit” the space of the square that belongs to it, an end that she hopes to achieve when she has a “defined project” that, as she said, is already being developed.
In this sense, Sanz recalled that the access to the Plaza de España already has “two side closures” on Isabel la Católica Avenue, where the monument opens, so that “all that remains is to close it in front”, with an installation that “already exists”, but that would have to be “completed”.
With this proposal, the City Council intends to raise income to finance the conservation of the monument and maintain a 24-hour surveillance service there, as well as open a permanent restoration school or workshop for this emblematic monument of Seville, currently completely public. access.
However, José Luis Sanz’s project was firmly rejected by the central government – made up of the PSOE and Sumar – who called it an attempt to “privatize” public space. In this regard, José Luis Sanz criticized once again on Wednesday that the executive of Pedro Sánchez, beyond rejecting the idea, has not proposed any economic “alternative” to finance the 24-hour surveillance of the monument and the permanent restoration work. mayor, he has already “decided” to implement “a ticket” to access the space of the square belonging to the City Hall.
Serving the pleasure of the local population
At the same time, after recently stating that in 2025, after the next edition of the Icónica music festival that Plaza de España hosts every summer, he would open “the debate on whether or not to continue” the event in said historic enclave, protected as a Cultural Interest Asset (BIC), Sanz showed himself this Wednesday “in support” of the local citizens who enjoy “this unique space.”
“I can see that this type of activity is being organised in the Plaza de España,” he said, stressing that the festival is “under the control of urban planning technicians.”
Furthermore, he again defended that the Plaza de España is an “ideal” enclave for the “great museum space” that, according to him, the city needs, wondering again if it is “logical” that said monument houses “plasterboard offices” for state offices because from their point of view, “it makes sense” to maintain in the monument, in terms of administrative dependencies, the General Captaincy, headquarters of the Army General Staff.
