The public budget is a government's most sincere statement of intent. The essence of their policies is defined in the expenses and income recorded in these accounts; in the chapter on real investments, in taxes, in social assistance included or excluded, in the amount of debt assumed or in the amount spent on the provision of public services… Five municipalities controlled by the PP in coalition with Vox – Castilla y León, Aragon, the Valencian Community, Extremadura and Murcia – and another in which the representatives of the people govern alone, but thanks to the parliamentary support of the extreme right – the Balearic Islands – are these days approving their budgets for 2024: the transfer of adapting their policies to the reality of economic goods. Most of them agree that despite the loss of income due to the tax cuts adopted (which mainly target high incomes), public spending is predicted to increase. reduce or eliminate subsidies for unions and employers; and reducing aid to foreign cooperation.
The part of the budget allocated to social actors represents less savings than the increase in expenditure implied by the new aid to the bullfighting festival. Article 7 of the Constitution states that trade unions and employers “shall contribute to the defense and promotion of their own economic and social interests”. The unions have already protested against the reduction in subsidies for 2024, recalling that they are “fundamental organizations of the constitutional system”, that they “perform a function of representation and defense of all workers” and that therefore the aid they receive from the administrations are fully justified as they provide an essential public service.
This is a summary of the content of the budgets already approved or in progress in the six municipalities where government or investment agreements exist between the PP and Vox:
Juan García-Gallardo (Vox), Vice President of Castilla y León, welcomes Regional President Alfonso Fernández Mañueco (PP) in a September plenary session at the Cortes of Castilla y León.R. GARCIA (EFE)
Castilla y León: lower income tax and fewer job placement opportunities
The first budgets of PP and Vox in Castilla y León – the community that launched the pact between the right – were approved in December 2022, but had to be ratified months later due to a voting error. This bill included a tax cut, a programmatic landmark of both parties: the regional income tax portion rose from 9.5% to 9%. The total budget (almost 13,000 million euros) grew by 12.35%, mainly thanks to European stimulus funds. These accounts will be retained for the time being for 2024; the board has not submitted any new ones. “It is worth waiting,” said Economy Minister Carlos Fernández Carriedo, justifying the wait for the central government to carry out the general budget plans and clarify which funds correspond to the autonomies of the state and for what with VAT, personal income tax and special taxes levied.
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The budgets included aspects such as the reduction in the price of hunting or fishing licenses and also the birth allowance (although these led to complaints as the contribution entailed additional costs at the time of taxation). The Vox ministries have left their mark: the employment sector has made cuts to the unions, halved the funding for the arbitration service in labor disputes and cut the contributions for labor prevention or job placement for women who are victims of sexist violence.
The Ministry of Culture, also in the hands of the extreme right, significantly increased contributions to bullfighting: 650,000 euros, more than double the PP's previous accounts at Ciudadanos. The vice-presidency of Juan García-Gallardo, who has hardly any powers, has 120,000 euros at his disposal for his administration. Likewise, despite their election promises, PP and Vox have increased the number of high-ranking officials in their ministries and the associated public sum: the money allocated to the 99 people in this category increases by up to 12.5% (previously it was 93). Legislative branch).
The President of Aragon, Jorge Azcón (PP), and Vice President Alejandro Nolasco (Vox), in August. JAVIER BELVER (EFE)
Aragon: midwifery and refusal to cooperate
“The most social budget in history.” It is the phrase with which the President of Aragon, Jorge Azcón (PP), and several of his advisers have boasted in recent weeks about the balance sheets for next year: 8,546 million euros (3, 6% more than this year). The project was advanced last Friday with the vote in favor of Aragón Existen and the Aragonese Party, as well as PP and Vox. PSOE, Chunta, Podemos and IU voted against.
The amount allocated to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Family is 510 million, 12% more than last year. But in this department, even though the advisor is from the PP, Vox has managed to tighten the scissors in certain aspects, as aid for development cooperation has fallen sharply: from 6.2 million to 1.4 million. Vox finance ministry spokesman Fermín Civiac claims that this cut is not due to the autonomous government being against international cooperation, but rather to the fact that “it is a matter of the state”. And he adds that “countries that harbor terrorist organizations or promote illegal immigration will not receive any aid.” Vox was not so successful with the amendment he presented to cut subsidies for unions: Civilac admitted that “it “It has not been possible to reduce subsidies this year”, although it highlights that the budget articles indicate that “all unions are bound to reduce subsidies”. comply with the law of transparency and access to information.”
The far-right party has canceled the 56,000 euro allocation to promote Aragonese and Catalan, a language that it says is “alien to the Aragonese reality and whose purpose owes to separatist pan-Catalanism”. Birth support will be doubled until it reaches 500,000 euros, and Vox argues: “The nation needs birth, because birth creates a nation.”
The vice president of Valencia, Vicente Barrera (Vox), with the president of the municipality, Carlos Mazón (PP), in a plenary session in the regional parliament in October. Kai Forsterling (EFE)
Valencian Community: Bulls, cultural project
The Generalitat Valenciana's budget plans for 2024 were approved this Wednesday without any disagreements between the PP and Vox, the government partners. The popular have given the extreme right a free hand to prepare the reports of the departments it leads, without changing the aid to bullfights, the denial of gender violence or the aid to establishments that support a non-normative Valencian.
The inheritance and gift tax bonus, which was 50%, is increased to 99% (i.e. the tax practically disappears). The Valencian government has calculated that this tax cut will mean a drop in income of 231 million, but the Economic and Social Committee (CES) of the Valencian Community has already warned that this amount will be even higher. The budget does not cut health or education. The Ministry of Equality, which leads the PP, speaks of the fight against “gender-based violence”, a concept that is disappearing in the Ministry of Justice (Vox), the ministry responsible for caring for victims.
The most controversial measures are those in the cultural sector, which grant direct support of 300,000 euros to the Toro de Lidia Foundation and include bullfighting as a cultural activity and project, which also includes music, cinema and theater. The Minister of Culture, former bullfighter Vicente Barrera, will also manage subsidies for entities that advocate for a non-normative Valencian, while at the same time reducing or withdrawing public support for entities that advocate for the orthographic normalization of Valencian.
The President of Extremadura, María Guardiola (PP), and the speaker of Vox in the Regional Assembly, Ángel Pelayo, during the signing of the agreement between both parties to govern in a coalition, in June. Jorge Armestar (Europa Press)
Extremadura: Vox is now a “reliable” partner
The health of the marriage of Vox and the PP in Extremadura is continually measured by the statements made in the media by the regional president, María Guardiola. On September 15, Guardiola stated that his relations with those in charge of the far right in Extremadura were “little or none.” The sentence sparked an internal uproar among his government partner, who immediately demanded a correction. This was done on tiptoe and through a PP spokesman. Three months later, the correction officially arrived. Guardiola said last Monday in the Hoy newspaper: “Vox is a reliable partner.” Their first budget plans depend on them, which, assuming there are no surprises, will be approved by the Assembly in the coming days.
Extremadura's accounts will amount to 8,127 million euros in 2024, 4.4% more than this year. Education increases its allotment slightly and Health increases by 3.6%. The most important feature will be the abolition of inheritance tax. Subsidies to unions and employers will be cut by 10%, and for the first time a hotline for private kindergartens for ages 0 to 3 will be included in the education item. The aid intended for Extremadura's cooperation abroad will also be reduced from 1.8 million to 200,000 euros. The accounts record an increase in the amount allocated to the Ministry of Forestry and Rural World, which is led by Vox. The bull aid increases from 86,000 euros in 2023 to 786,000 euros in 2024.
The President of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, during the constitutional session of the Parliament in June. Isaac Buj (Europa Press)
Balearic Islands: Changing the language model in schools
In the Balearic Islands, the PP governs alone, but with external support from Vox. Both parties agreed legislatively to implement 110 measures over the next four years. The weakness of the executive of Marga Prohens (PP) became clear in the processing of her first regional bills, for which she needed the consent of the extreme right. The PP has thus accepted all of Vox's demands, after the Ultras had put pressure on them for weeks until they achieved them. This has happened with the language plan, with which both parties promise to guarantee the free choice of the language of instruction beyond the first level of primary school. The PP no longer advocated a gradual implementation over the next four years, but now accepted an amount of 20 million euros to be used immediately for the coming preschool and primary school year. In practice, according to various voices in the educational community, this plan will involve the separation of students in some subjects depending on the language they choose (Spanish or Catalan).
One of the most controversial decisions taken at Vox's request was the abolition of subsidies for unions and employers, who no longer receive 400,000 euros (out of a total budget of 7.320 million euros). Also at the request of the Ultra Party, 200,000 euros will be allocated to strengthen the staff of education inspectors to “ensure the absence of ideological interference and indoctrination in the classrooms”; five million euros to combat euthanasia by increasing funding for palliative care and “family, medical and spiritual” support; and one million euros to set up an anti-squatting office. The exemption amount for paying wealth tax increases from the current 750,000 euros to three million euros, and there are also new deductions for the long-term rental of residential property and for caring for people over 65 years of age.
José Ángel Antelo (Vox), Vice President of Murcia, welcomes the Regional President Fernando López Miras (PP) at the investiture plenary session in September. Marcial Guillén (EFE)
Murcia: public funds to defend the unity of Spain
PP and Vox govern Murcia in a coalition and have signed a specific agreement for the 2024 autonomous budget, which will be approved on December 28 in the regional assembly. The agreement consists of seven points and includes measures such as a 25 percent cut in direct aid to social actors and the creation of a “symbolic” item of 100,000 euros to defend the unity of the Spanish nation. These funds are part of the Ministry of the Interior and the Vice Presidency led by the president of Vox in Murcia, José Ángel Antelo, who has not made too many explanations about their use. The PP spokesman in the assembly, Joaquín Segado, assured on November 29, when the agreement was made public, that these 100,000 euros would be used, for example, for the preparation of studies or the acquisition of resources in the event of “any eventuality” in the “stubborn reality ” that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, “insisted on keeping the Constitution and national unity in check”.
The item has little weight in a budget of 6.526 million euros, but represents a large ideological burden, such as another 100,000 euros earmarked for “a new program to eliminate all forms of domestic violence”. The Ministry of Social Policy has positions worth eight million euros related to the prevention and fight against sexist violence, but this newly created position is the only one explicitly included in the budget agreement between PP and Vox. The bills, on the other hand, include a million euros for large families and the creation of a “Family Support Observatory” to “consolidate policies to support and support the role of a fundamental institution for our society”.
This report was prepared with information from Juan Navarro, Pepe Lasmarias, Maria Fabra, Lolo Viejo, Lucia Bohorquez And Virginia Vadillo.
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