“Don’t forget that you are mayor thanks to Vox and that our votes are not free. We must act against illegal immigration.” Thus, in June, the leader of Vox, Juan García-Gallardo, still vice-president of the Junta de Castilla y León, recalled the fragility and obligations of the governmental pact between his party and the PP at the town hall of Burgos at the following another controversy. .in matters of immigration. After almost a week without commenting on the controversy, the mayor, Cristina Ayala (PP), indicated that she did not want to “assume” the cost of the absence of municipal accounts for 2025, therefore “at present, it There is no option to change the budget.
The mayor justified the measure by which she signed a government pact to “give stability to the city” and advance the project so as not to “paralyze” the city. The councilor indicated that there are differences between the PP and Vox even if, despite a measure against migrants, they are “much closer to Vox” than to the PSOE.
Ayala continued to accuse the PSOE of making the divergences with the socialist model and that of the PP and Vox latent. For the mayor, the two parties do not agree “on absolutely none of the city’s projects”. The socialists, through their municipal spokesperson and former mayor, Daniel de la Rosa, proposed to the PP to break and reissue the agreements to advance the budgets.
“The end that justifies the means” for Ayala is to approve the municipal accounts for 2025. Whatever the price. All this, despite the fact that the measure arouses strong social rejection and even a demonstration against it on Wednesday afternoon. “The fact of being with a government partner means that either we approve – their proposals – or there are no budgets,” said the mayor. A few days earlier, the spokesperson for the Town Hall had assured that there had been no “blackmail or threat” concerning the withdrawal of 119,000 euros from NGOs. Ballesteros herself even indicated that “They would not have cut off this aid if they had governed alone.”
“Last year there were demands and this year there are others. Next year the approach will be different. We will see what this different approach is,” Ayala explained. Among the “cuts” of Vox and PP in Burgos in the 2024 budgets are the removal of help to the Coordinator for the recovery of the historical memory of Burgos and to the University Chair or the reduction by half of the international cooperation budget.
In June of this year, Vox attempted to get municipal police to carry out “periodic inspections, home visits and identity checks” in an attempt to detect “possible cases of illegal recording”, according to the deputy mayor, Fernando Martínez-Acitores (Vox). 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 pointed out possible “electoral fraud” in these registrations, in addition to emphasizing that “all” the causes are linked “to cases of illegal immigration”.
On this occasion, the mayor had to disavow her government partner and recalled that she alone gives orders to the Police. At that time, the now former vice-president of the Board reminded him of the obligations of his pact in a message on the social network X.
This measure affects the NGOs Burgos Acoge, Accem and Atalaya, which will no longer receive 119,000 euros, estimated the vice-mayor, contributing to the “call effect” without adding justification to the measure. Martínez-Acitores invited this Thursday, on the Radio Arlanzón station, during a meeting with the municipal spokespersons of the PP and PSOE, the Confederation of Employers’ Associations of Burgos – the provincial and local employers’ association – to bounce back on the elements it receives from the Town Hall to the NGOs.
Caritas, which announced this Monday in a declaration that she was not going to sign with the Town Hall the extension of the temporary reception agreement for immigrants until an agreement was reached to include it in the Town Hall budget for 2025 with the rest of the entities .
All the work undertaken by the NGOs, as the spokesperson explained this Tuesday and which the mayor supported, must be carried out “as best they can” by the social worker staff of Burgos City Hall, as Ayala pointed out.
The PP and Vox will maintain their aid to NGOs in the province
The Burgos Provincial Council, chaired by the absolute majority of the PP, will allocate funds to NGOs and, in addition, increase aid, as stated by the President of the Provincial Council, Borja Suárez, who is also President of the Provincial PP. and councilor at city hall. The provincial institution’s budgets will benefit from the support of the far right in exchange for a 30-fold increase in funds for vulnerable women considering abortion, having increased from a thousand euros to 30,000 euros by 2025.
Regarding this measure or the removal of agreements with the NGOs concerned, as revealed by Suárez, Vox has not made any request in this regard. The president of the PP of Burgos defended the position of the measure taken in the Municipal Council of the capital, although he criticized that he did not like the “forms” and that it would therefore be necessary to discuss the measure with the entities.
The president of the provincial PP wanted to emphasize that “there are different Vox”. On the one hand, “the Vox of Castilla y León, which breaks a government pact because of an event by Mr. Abascal and with an irresponsibility that it has not yet explained,” as he reported. On the other hand, according to Suárez, there is also “the Vox of the Burgos City Council”, “under the dictation of the same one who broke the pact in Castilla y León” and, finally, the Vox of the province , who “put nothing on the table”.
In his reflection, Suárez positively valued the work of NGOs with migrants. For the “popular” leader, Burgos is “a province that will be saved by immigration” and that, “if it has a future, it will be thanks to the people who come from abroad to settle in our territory.”
“Firm” support from the Third Platform of the Social Sector of Castilla y León to the NGOs of Burgos
The Third Sector Platform of Castilla y León (PTSCyL) transmitted this Wednesday its “firm” approval, support and recognition to the work carried out by the entities of the third social sector, with express mention of the entities that are dedicated to providing care to immigrants in Burgos, reports Europa Press.
Through a press release, the Third Sector Platform also warned that the elimination of the collaboration agreements that ACCEM, Burgos Acoge and Atalaya Intercultural have maintained with Burgos City Hall “will jeopardize the continuity” of their work and their profits. contribute to society.
The Platform affirmed the need to maintain the funding that these entities have received “for years” in order to guarantee the continuity “of their valuable services”. The president of the platform, Francisco J. Sardón, insisted in this regard that the work of social entities in the third sector and immigrant entities “is irreplaceable” and defended that their impact on society “is immeasurable”.
“Not only do they benefit immigrants, but they also strengthen the social fabric of our Community,” declared the president of the Platform, reiterating that these organizations are “essential” for building a “more inclusive and more diverse society.” since they provide “essential services that facilitate the integration and well-being of immigrants”.
To this, they added that third social sector entities work in networks to offer education, professional training, legal support and social assistance, a collaboration between organizations that allows “maximizing impact and ensuring that immigrants can develop their potential and contribute to the cultural and economic enrichment of the country.
