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ARCHIVED - Spain excludes Alicante from EU Next Generation Budget
The central government has refused to fund a project to strengthen trade and revitalise tourist areas of Alicante province
The Spanish Government has left Alicante Provincial Council, led by President, Carlos Mazón Guixot (pictured) out of the Next Generation European funds and refused to subsidise a project aimed at strengthening trade and the economy in tourist areas of the province, in particular the Marina Alta area.
The application was apparently rejected due to budget restraints, but the provincial council is "not convinced", and both the Citzens (C's) and People's Party (PP) have accused Pedro Sánchez's government of a lack of transparency in the selection process of projects.
"We understand, because we do not even know the evaluation criteria used, that the government has not even gone into evaluating the project, which leads us to believe that this process lacks transparency and that there is a clear political bias in the distribution of funds," blasted the provincial deputy for European Funds, María Gómez.
The Provincial Council requested European funding of 629,000 euros to "revitalise the local economy" through a number of proposals at a total cost of more than 32 million euros.
"The quality and rigour of the project drawn up by the provincial council and presented on behalf of the municipalities with between 5,000 and 20,000 inhabitants in the province was part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan aimed, in this case, at promoting trade in the Marina area," explained Gómez.
The aim of the proposal was to cover investments in public roads, the installation of signage, the digitalisation of the commercial sector (through public WiFi and an eCommerce Chatbot service), and training to improve customer service, amongst other projects.
"The government has once again turned its back on the province of Alicante and excluded us from the distribution of Next Generation funds, which are essential to overcome the crisis generated by Covid," said Gómez, insisting that "many regional and local administrations in Spain are uneasy" over the over the central governments' "partisan use" of these European funds.
Image: Diputación de Alicante
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