The commissioner for Recovery, Raúl Mérida, has called in Madrid for a legal reform that exempts disaster aid from income tax and creates a specific emergency law. He also denounced that only 5% of the 1.7 billion euros transferred to the municipalities affected by the floods has been executed.
The commissioner for Recovery of the Generalitat Valenciana, Raúl Mérida, has put forward an ambitious package of legal reforms to expedite the response to natural disasters. In a conference at the Conexus Foundation in Madrid, Mérida urged the central government to make regulatory changes that include everything from exempting disaster aid from income tax to creating a specific disaster law.
Tax-free aid and an emergency law
One of the flagship proposals is that aid received by those affected by a natural disaster should not be subject to income tax. Mérida argued that this measure would alleviate the tax burden on those who have already suffered material and personal losses. Additionally, he called for the exemption from interest payments on the return of subsidies and the suspension of administrative and judicial deadlines during emergencies.
The commissioner insisted on the need for a Law on Natural Disasters that would require the convening of a joint intergovernmental commission within the first 24 hours after a disaster. As an example of the urgency, he recalled that in the Comunitat Valenciana, this commission was convened 470 days after the floods. He also demanded that the European Civil Protection Mechanism be activated immediately, which took almost two weeks to start during the floods.
“The aim is to establish a new framework that allows autonomous communities and local administrations to act with greater speed, coordination, and effectiveness,” Mérida pointed out.
Blockage in reconstruction: only 5% executed
Mérida denounced that of the 1.7 billion euros transferred by the Spanish government to the municipalities affected by the floods, barely 5% has been executed. “There is a blockage in the municipalities,” he stated, attributing it to the rigidity of the current public procurement regulations.
The commissioner proposed modifying the Contracts Law so that emergency contracts can continue to be formalised while the consequences of the disaster persist, and not just in the initial phases. He also argued that reconstruction should not be limited to replacing what was destroyed, but should allow for improvements to infrastructure to make them more resilient.
“At the moment, the Contracts Law requires us to rebuild infrastructure in the same terms as it was. This makes no sense, as in the case of the floods, if a bridge has been swept away by water, we cannot rebuild it in the same way,” Mérida explained.
Green infrastructure against future floods
The Generalitat's strategy also includes nature-based territorial regeneration projects, such as the system of floodable metropolitan parks in Valencia, the Monnegre green corridor, or the Mutxamel river park. According to Mérida, these infrastructures will function as anti-flood barriers and reduce vulnerability to extreme weather events.
“The floods were a harsh experience that left us lessons. Based on them, we have applied the knowledge we have now to make infrastructures more resilient,” he noted. These projects are inspired by models already implemented in advanced European cities.
Mérida's conference is part of a round of meetings with business and institutional representatives to gather support. Among the attendees were executives from Stadler Rail, BP Energy, Veolia, Rover Group, and other firms, as well as consultancies like Pricewaterhouse Coopers and McKinsey.
For citizens affected by disasters, the proposed exemption from income tax would mean direct economic relief. Meanwhile, municipalities continue to wait for funds to be unlocked for reconstruction. The ball is now in the central government's court, which must decide whether to accept these reforms.
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