Mazón's Council Approves Budget Amid Execution Uncertainty

PP and Vox votes in Les Corts approved a budget on Wednesday night that has become "fundamental" for Mazón's Council due to its symbolic value and practical intent. Symbolically, the President of the Generalitat, in a difficult situation due to criticism over his management of the dana, needed the boost of approving this year's accounts, quite different from the national level, where Sánchez has been without a General State Budget for years. Practically, the Generalitat's accounts are an essential economic tool for a region that has suffered Spain's worst natural disaster of the century. However, whether this budget can be executed is another matter entirely.

Just when you intend to manage more money and develop more projects, you face the shortest timeframe, half a year. This uncertainty about its execution is like the elephant in the room for the Generalitat, which will now have to grit its teeth and take the application of the allocations very seriously.

The budget approval marks the end of a chapter, as no other PP-governed autonomy relying on Vox votes has managed to pass the accounts. This is a differentiating factor in favour of the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, who has also become a unique political element given the fierce opposition criticism and media focus on him. Génova has been obliged for months to think of responses to questions constantly raised regarding the future of the Council's leader.

Throughout yesterday's debate and voting session on the budget in Les Corts, the shadow of Mazón, his future, his continuity, and the political support he has from Feijóo, was omnipresent. The approval of the accounts has provided PP and Vox with arguments to endorse their activity, while the left has chanted 'Mazón, resignation' dozens of times. The President attended parliament in the afternoon. His absence also served as an argument for socialists and nationalists. Everything Mazón does and does not do is in the spotlight.

Conclusions about the budget approval have been extreme. Compromís describes the accounts as "the budgets of hate." Vox, of course, has boasted that the allocations bear their "stamp" and have emphasized the importance of these allocations to boost the reconstruction of the dana area.

"We are not closing a chapter today at all. President Mazón is fulfilling his duty. He will finish the legislature. I believe we have a president for a long time, much longer than Sánchez should be in Moncloa, as he does not have budgets," replied Juanfran Pérez Llorca, the PP's spokesperson, when asked about the future of the President of the Generalitat.

Pérez Llorca is being pointed out as the probable alternative if Génova finally decides to change course in the Council, a possibility that Mazón himself denied this Wednesday in Alicante before travelling to Valencia to vote: "I will continue."

According to the President of the Generalitat, the budget approval "makes us feel very committed again, with the obligation to keep the focus on that reconstruction and the momentum needed by the entire Community, which will help us in Alicante, Castellón, and the rest of the province of Valencia to achieve more dynamism so that we can all recover what we deserve."

Mazón arrived at Les Corts in the late afternoon to participate in votes on which Diana Morant, the PSPV leader, also offered her opinion. "We are the first community in this country where Vox governs," said Morant, for whom the accounts are "the worst budgets at the worst time for Valencians," as she assured that these accounts allocate "zero euros from the Generalitat's revenue" to dana victims: "It is unprecedented and unacceptable."

PP and Vox decided to condense the budget debate in Les Corts into a single day, this Wednesday. There was a time, not long ago, when the parliamentary final examination of the budget law extended over three days. But we are in unusual times. And precisely, regarding the times, the left did not hide its intention to hinder the plans designed by PP and Vox from the Les Corts Board to dispatch the budget during Wednesday afternoon.

"The budget approval guarantees reconstruction and demonstrates institutional stability in the Valencian Community, something the Sánchez Government cannot say," said Councillor Ruth Merino after the vote.

Socialists and nationalists demanded separate votes and requested legal reports to overturn the roadmap of the popular and voxists. Finally, at 11 p.m., long after the scheduled time (not without jokes about wearing pyjamas during the votes), the budget was approved with the uncertainty of how much it can be executed.