The Girona municipal plenary session approved this Monday a motion to demand that the State allow the city council to allocate 1.6 million euros of surplus to urban improvements instead of using them to pay off debt. The initiative was approved with the votes of Guanyem, Junts per Catalunya, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, and PSC, while the PP abstained and Vox voted against.
The tension of the debate lay in the fact that the council defends that it has investment capacity, but cannot use it due to the limitations of the spending rule and the use of surpluses. At the same time, the PSC reproached the municipal government that it had already supported a similar motion in January 2024 and that since then the obligation is to execute.
Girona government asks to use 1.6 million and not amortize debt
Quim Ayats, deputy mayor and councilor for Culture, maintained during the session that "it makes no sense" to demand that city councils do more "with the same tools," in a context of rising prices linked to the war conflict in the Middle East.
From the local executive, Gemma Geis, deputy mayor and councilor for Economic Promotion, stated that the central government, presided over by the PSOE, has not relaxed the spending rule. She added that the city council has investment capacity, but cannot use it because the rule on the use of the surplus has not been streamlined.
Sílvia Aliu, deputy mayor and councilor for Coexistence and Security, demanded the immediate suspension of the fiscal rules applicable to city councils. In her opinion, that framework makes it difficult to adapt municipal budgets when the councils face more needs.
The PSC recalled a similar motion approved in January 2024
The socialist support allowed the motion to prosper, but the PSC municipal group took advantage of the debate to distance itself from the government team. The socialist spokesperson, Bea Esporrín, criticized that her party had already presented an identical proposal in January 2024.
Esporrín also regretted not having been consulted for this new initiative. In the plenary session, she defended that, once that motion was approved, executing it is the responsibility of the municipal government.
The vote left a broad majority in favor of the claim against the State, with the support of the government team and the PSC, the abstention of the PP, and the vote against from Vox.
Bea Esporrín, spokesperson for the PSC in Girona, placed the precedent of the debate in January 2024, when her group already presented an identical motion that was also approved by the plenary.