The leader of the PSdeG, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, urged the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, to negotiate better regional funding with the central government, aiming to secure between 900 and 1,000 million euros for Galicia.
The general secretary of the PSdeG, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, has thrown down the gauntlet to the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, during the control session in the Galician Parliament. Besteiro has urged him to sit down and negotiate with the Government of Spain for an improvement in regional funding, setting a specific goal: to bring between 900 and 1,000 million euros in additional funds to Galicia.
A historic opportunity at stake
Besteiro reminded that the central government has already put 587 million euros on the table for the community, a figure that exceeds by 87 million the 500 million that Rueda himself considered necessary a few months ago to improve public services. “It is possible to achieve better funding, but for that, we need to sit down and negotiate and talk,” the socialist leader stated.
The politician emphasised that there has never been so many resources available for housing, dependency, health care, and public services, but there has also never been “a president of the Xunta who constantly says no to Galicia and yes to what they are told from Madrid.” In his speech, Besteiro accused Rueda of governing “to the dictates” of his party and pointed out the influence of Vox as a new blocking factor.
Real debt versus invented bill
One of the most critical points in Besteiro's speech was the management of regional debt. The socialist denounced Rueda's rejection of the cancellation of 4.010 million euros of real debt generated by PP governments, while “inventing” a fictitious bill of 4,000 million for the transfer of the AP-9. “A bill that Galicia does not have to pay and will not pay,” he declared.
Besteiro recalled that communities like Asturias and Castilla-La Mancha have already announced that they will accept the cancellation of their debt, and he urged Rueda to set aside the “juggling” and focus on negotiating. “Silence and blockage are not a position,” he asserted, demanding an appearance from the president in Parliament to explain his funding model.
Negotiation timetable underway
The leader of the PSdeG warned that deadlines are already set: a technical meeting scheduled for July 14 and the convening of the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy on the 29th of the same month. Besteiro directly asked Rueda what the position of the Xunta will be in those forums and if he has any concrete funding proposal.
For the general secretary of the PSdeG, self-government means “taking on responsibilities, not inventing problems; it is about solving problems and applying solutions, not creating headlines.” He concluded his speech by asking Rueda to defend the interests of Galicia and not to turn the community “into hostages of a party strategy.”
The ball is now in the court of the Xunta. Meanwhile, Galician citizens are watching closely to see if this time the negotiation translates into concrete figures that improve public services or if, on the contrary, political blockage prevents taking advantage of what Besteiro describes as “the greatest cycle of economic growth” for the community.
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