The City Council warns of a legal dispute against the Government over the distribution of European funds
The Council has filed two appeals with the Ministry of Finance and a complaint with the Commission after being excluded from the grants
José Vicente Pérez Pardo
Alicante
Monday, 17 November 2025, 16:35
The Alicante City Council is considering taking "all necessary measures" to secure the European funds needed to implement up to ten projects in the city. The Councillor for Presidency and Internal Affairs, Antonio Peral, stated on Monday at the municipal commission that the government team is considering "an Administrative Litigation to have them reassigned as originally planned in the call."
The legal services of the Alicante City Council have filed two appeals with the Ministry of Finance after being excluded from the allocation of European Feder funds in the provisional resolution of the EDIL (Integrated Local Development Strategy) program for the city, as well as a complaint with the European Commission. The government team believes that "the proposed allocation of funds by the Government violates the principle of sound financial management, which requires that budgetary resources be used economically, efficiently, and effectively."
In the complaint to the European Commission, the Council requests a review of the fund distribution to ensure they align with objective and transparent criteria by the Central Government of Spain. "We believe the allocation process should have been based on thematic concentration and the real needs of the Valencian Community, respecting the principles of equality and territorial justice, and we request that the public entities affected be informed of the project evaluation criteria, which are currently unknown," defended Councillor Antonio Peral.
The ten projects excluded from Brussels funding
The list of submitted initiatives includes the adaptation of the López Soria School as a Proximity Centre, the renovation of the old drying shed of Las Cigarreras as a space for the Aterriza program, the expansion of the Employment and Training Centre 'El Tossalet', 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 Smart City program projects.
It has also urged the municipal groups Socialist, Compromís, and EU-Podem, who govern with Pedro Sánchez, to claim these European funds to advance the projects. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Socialist Municipal Group, Ana Barceló, has demanded that the municipal government provide the complaint they claim to have filed with the European Commission regarding the selection of projects to be funded by Brussels: "Barcala says it is discriminatory that the funds have been reduced because a part will be allocated to municipalities affected by the dana. We have requested that they provide us with this complaint so that from the European Socialist Group and the Municipal Group we can truly understand if this is the reason Alicante has not received funds," she noted.
On the other hand, Esquerra Unida Podem has denounced that the document "is not an explanation, but an alibi to hide their failure." Manolo Copé pointed out that "the project was poorly planned, poorly justified, and lacked a city model," lamenting that neither the opposition knows who decided on the ten projects finally submitted nor the criteria used for their selection, a process that, moreover, "was carried out without the necessary participation of the citizenry and the social fabric."
