PP and Vox to Approve Adjustment Plan in 'Express' Session After Cremà

In an 'express' session, the Alicante City Council will approve the new municipal adjustment plan in an extraordinary meeting convened the day after the Cremà on June 25, when much of the city will still be asleep after the long night marking the end of the Hogueras. This is because EU Podem councillor, Manolo Copé, will go on paternity leave on the 26th, and the government team wants to avoid the financial document and the session entering an administrative-judicial loop as happened in January.

The officially known Economic and Financial Plan 2025-2026 must be implemented after exceeding the spending cap by about 27 million euros, necessitating adjustments to future budgets to balance income and expenditure.

Politically, the PP needs one more vote for an absolute majority and, therefore, to approve any regulation. They must approve it with at least one opposition group. This has led them to strike a deal with Vox on the adjustment plan, a deal that cost them, among other things, the "sacrifice" of Finance Councillor Toni Gallego, at the request of Abascal's party.

The agreement reached on Monday was ratified this Wednesday in the Finance Committee. The PP and Vox majority gave the green light this Wednesday to the processing of the Economic and Financial Plan 2025-2026 and the submission of amendments for its plenary approval on June 25. PP and Vox voted in favour, while the rest of the opposition voted against.

One of the measures agreed upon between the popular government team and the municipal group of Vox is the reduction of the Property Tax (IBI) planned for the 2026 fiscal year, the resulting amount of which will be offset by reductions in planned expenditure of an identical amount of 1.1 million euros. Following the Finance Committee, the government team registered the agreed amendment, which will allow the economic stability programme to proceed.

Among the commitments agreed upon by the PP and Vox are economic measures, but also political ones, such as requesting that Alicante be a Spanish-speaking city, as well as reviewing the Public Space Occupation ordinance; the Acoustically Saturated Zones (ZAS) project; the Inclusion and Youth plans and the expansion of the Maternity Care Office.

Similarly, the Government team and Vox will promote a credit modification file that includes investments for the city: rotating parking in Babel (129,917 euros), proposed by Vox; modification of the rehabilitation works of the Casa de la Misericordia; allocation of 10,000 euros for the storage of museum material related to Alicante's bullfighting tradition; as well as the project for a police station in the Juan XXIII neighbourhood, the installation of shades on streets with high pedestrian traffic, or the expansion of the cleaning and waste collection contract, both in schedules and urban areas, among others.