Alicante Denounces 'New Discrimination' by Government and Appeals Against EDIL Fund Allocation

The Alicante City Council has demanded explanations from the Spanish Government for excluding the city from the European EDIL funds, which it considers 'insufficient' and 'aggravated by the penalty applied to the Valencian Community'. The allocation is deemed 'unequal' compared to other regions, as it has to compete with larger cities in the province and is 'discriminatory' due to a 'subjective territorial criterion', in addition to reducing opportunities by cutting the calls from three to one.

This is stated in the appeal submitted by the City Council to the Directorate General of European Funds, under the Ministry of Finance, which demands a detailed score of the proposal submitted by the Council, a technical meeting with the officials responsible for the call, a review of the territorial criterion applied and its impact on the fairness of the process, as well as considering the previous experience of the Alicante City Council as an element of technical solvency.

The mayor, Luis Barcala, has strongly criticised the decision of Pedro Sánchez's Government to exclude the city from the European funds in the provisional resolution of the EDIL (Integrated Local Development Strategy) programme, calling it 'unjust' and 'unexpected' as it is the first time the provincial capital has been left out of the European funding allocation. 'Not only are we marginalised with the State's General Budgets, which have kept the province of Alicante at the bottom of Spain for the last three years, but we are also punished with the distribution of European funds when our city is an example of the utilisation and good management of these resources,' lamented the mayor.

The decision was announced last Friday with the publication of the provisional resolution that set a ten-day deadline to submit appeals. Barcala highlighted the exemplary management of the capital received from the European Union within the Edusi and other programmes, which was recognised by the Vice President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, during his visit to Alicante in the summer of 2023. He also announced the submission of appeals to reverse this situation, which he described as the 'most serious that could affect the city at this time'.

In its appeals, also addressed to the First Vice Presidency of the central Government, the Alicante City Council considers that it 'meets all the eligibility criteria having scored more than 50 points in the final assessment', which only earned it the first place on the reserve list. Therefore, it demands detailed information on the overall score obtained in its proposal, as well as the scores obtained by other plans submitted by entities in the Valencian Community in the same category; and the breakdown of scores for each of the evaluated sections, in order to precisely analyse the criteria applied and assess possible avenues for improvement or appeal. It also demands to know the specific motivation that justifies the denial of the application.

The City Council also requests a meeting with the Ministry's technical officials to clarify the criteria applied in the evaluation to resolve doubts about the selection process, which is considered 'fundamental'.

In the appeals, the Alicante City Council argues that it has been 'discriminated against by the application of a subjective territorial criterion', which has negatively affected Alicante, which has demonstrated technical capacity and experience in managing European funds.

At the same time, it questioned the budgetary insufficiency of the call and the territorial penalty, considering that the allocation of the FEDER financial path to Integrated Action Plans of local entities within the framework of sustainable urban development, funded by the European Regional Development Fund in the 2021-2027 programming period, made by the Spanish Government, 'has had an insufficient budget, aggravated by the penalty applied to the Valencian Community, by withdrawing funds for a specific DANA call'. 'This decision has unjustly reduced the resources available to the municipalities of this Community, when such a penalty should have been distributed proportionally at the national level,' the appeals state.

The reduction from three to one call also represents, in the opinion of the government team, a reduction in opportunities compared to the previous period.

The City Council considers that 'the non-selection of the submitted proposal means that Alicante is excluded from access to FEDER funds in the current 2021–2027 programming period, which is a serious detriment to the sustainable urban development of the municipality. This situation limits the investment capacity in strategic projects that contribute to social cohesion, ecological transition, and the improvement of citizens' quality of life, creating a situation of inequality compared to other regions that have been able to access these resources'.

The appeals particularly emphasise that 'the territoriality criterion has created unequal competition between municipalities, especially harming some councils'. In this regard, it explains that the Castellón City Council had no other large city in its province to compete with, which may have favoured its position. Meanwhile, the Valencia City Council only competed with Gandía, which is at the bottom of the reserve list, indicating that the score obtained was clearly lower. In contrast, the Alicante City Council competed with three other large cities in its province (Elche, Benidorm, and Torrevieja), which 'created a situation of disproportionate competition'. 'Despite this, Alicante's proposal obtained a clearly good score, ranking first on the reserve list, which demonstrates the technical quality of the proposal compared to the rest,' the statement highlights.

Finally, the appeals also argue that 'the history of success in the execution and justification of European funds by this City Council has not been taken into account, as demonstrated in previous programmes such as EDUSI (2014-2020), URBAN (2007-2013), as well as in the management of funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), Tourism Sustainability Plan in Destinations (PSTD), and European Social Fund (ESF). This experience demonstrates solid governance and execution capacity that should have been positively valued in the selection process'.

Luis Barcala, in his initial assessment, considered that the fact that Alicante or Elche, the second and third largest cities in the Valencian Community, were left out of the selection of the European EDIL funds 'so blatantly' represents a 'comparative grievance that fills us with indignation'.

Alicante submitted projects worth 20 million euros to this European funding call, expecting to receive 12 million, as the funding was distributed with 60% from European funds and 40% from municipal funds. The list of submitted initiatives includes the adaptation of the López Soria School as a Proximity Centre, the renovation of the old Las Cigarreras drying shed as a space for the Aterriza programme, the expansion of the El Tossalet Employment and Training Centre, the new Tómbola Pavilion, the improvement of the Integrated Municipal Centre in Argel Square, the comprehensive renovation of Lo Morant Park, Orán Square, and Dolçainer Lluis Avellà, as well as improvements to the Constitution and El Palamó squares, in addition to promoting projects from the Smart City programme.