He UPN Spokesperson in the Parliament of NavarreJavier Esparza, said that the spending ceiling set by the regional government for 2025, with an increase of 2.4% compared to the previous year, “will generate a problematic situation in the area of government, in the management framework.”
At the end of the table and the Council of Spokespersons of the Parliament of Navarre, Esparza said that “we come from budgets that have been boosted, and I say this positively, by European funds.” “What is happening? That these European funds have been used, in many cases, instead of reaching companies, instead of reaching self-employed workers, instead of reaching entrepreneurs, instead of reaching strategic projects for Navarre, they have been used for current expenses,” he said.
So, he stressed, “when European funds start to be withdrawn and no longer arrive, you have a management problem, because you have consolidated public spending within the budget and I think that’s one of the questions that this budget will determine.“. “This budget will increase, but it will not increase by 2.4. If we ignore the contribution and the local entities, it will increase by 1.8. It is a growth lower than inflation, that is the truth, and with many items that I think are going to be frozen,” he said, stressing that “we will see what they put on the table, but not “I think that the expenditure ceiling of the other day or the budget that it sets for Navarre is good news.
He PPN spokesperson, Javier Garcíasaid that the spending cap “will not result in an expansionary budget” and indicated that “seven of the thirteen ministries will see their economic capacity reduced significantly in the next budgets.” “On the part of the government, as we saw last week in the plenary session of Parliament, they will not talk about cuts, but now they will talk about responsibility or budgetary adjustments, but let no one be mistaken, What the Government of Navarre is doing here is reducing, solely and exclusively,” he assured.
Javier Garcia indicated that, “unlike other occasions, we are not in an economic crisis that justifies this, but rather because resources have not been managed, certainly, more resources than ever, and especially with a historic injection of European funds”. “However, European funds have not translated into visible improvements in public services and the question that all Navarrese citizens ask themselves “That’s where that money is, where that money has gone,” he said.
For his part, the spokesperson for Geroa Bai, Pablo Azcona, indicated that “some changes are coming” .
Azcona stressed that many of these political priorities “We already know them publicly, we value them and from Geroa Bai we are still defending the programmatic agreement for this legislature, a large part of these political priorities are defined there and they must be accompanied by this budgetary ambition.” “We want to strengthen these agreements with the progressive majorities, we want to strengthen the stability of Navarre, and negotiating and agreeing on the different income and expenditure variables is essential at this time,” he stressed.
The parliamentarian of With you-Zurekin Miguel Garrido stressed that the 2.4% increase in the spending ceiling “is not enough to address the social challenges facing this community.”
Garrido said that “we must guarantee decent and adequate housing to the group of people who seek it in Navarre.” “We want to build a public community system of care in our Community that ensures care for those who need it and also free the people who provide free care, mainly women. We have the challenge of relaunching public services, education and health. We have the challenge of overcoming the gap, the discrimination that exists against women through equality policies. We have the challenge of guaranteeing full employment,” he defended.
The spokesperson for Vox, Maite Nosti, stressed that “the government of Navarreignoring recommendations to control spending and cut taxes, approved a 2.4% increase in this year’s budget for 2025, which represents 139 million euros more than what was envisaged in 2024.”
Nosti pointed out that in six years, since 2019, the increase in public spending in Navarre has been 48.75%, “which, unfortunately, is not reflected in better services”. “The other day, in plenary session, the Minister of Economy and Finance accused us, at Vox, of not supporting us, because we defend a tax reduction that allows the Navarrese to escape the economic asphyxiation to which they are subjected. For having asked for a tax reduction, we are not in favor. The councilor says that liberal economies like the ones we defend, which contain spending and reduce taxes, are not favorable and that communist and interventionist economies like those led by this government achieve equity and practice solidarity with. “This government is in solidarity? With the Navarrese who are increasingly poor? With whom? What services does it provide us?”
