PP and Vox agree in Alicante on a Low Emissions Zone without fines, an anti-abortion office and an anti-squatter service

There will be no sanctions for polluting vehicles that circulate in the future Low Emissions Zone (ZBE) of Alicante. The Gordian knot that prevented the agreement between the PP, which holds the Mayor's Office, and Vox to carry out the municipal budgets has finally been undone, after both parties agreed on a new ZBE ordinance that replaces the current one, extended with the permission of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. “Sanctions will not be imposed, if it is not technically necessary,” says the mayor, Luis Barcala, in a statement. “There was no need to sanction the people of Alicante and condemn small businesses for climate fundamentalism,” adds the ultra spokesperson in the Consistory, Carmen Robledillo. The budget pact also includes several Vox amendments, such as the creation of offices “to care for pregnant women with economic, social or family difficulties”, that is, offices that discourage women from having abortions, or “a service for fight against the illegal occupation of homes.”

The elections of May 28 paved the way for the PP's sole municipal government in the tenth Spanish city by population, with 350,000 inhabitants. Its 14 councilors had more seats in the plenary session than the entire left combined, but to approve the budgets, which were extended from 2022, an absolute majority is needed, and there the four Vox councilors were vital. To clear the accounts, Vox had several claims, but that of the ZBE was unavoidable. “The fines and restrictions of the ZBE were and are a red line,” Robledillo insisted today. Barcala, finally, has found the way out of the tunnel: the anti-pollution ordinance, for which it has received some 17 million European aid, complemented by another 8 million from municipal sources, will not contemplate a “sanctioning procedure.” In this way, the mayor maintains, “what is stipulated in the law in this regard is fulfilled, but without restricting the fundamental rights of Alicante residents and protecting the local economy, mainly in the affected areas,” the councilor advances. “We were right,” says the Vox spokesperson Robledillo.

To approve budgets that amount to 359.26 million euros, which grows by 27.8% compared to 2022, and which must first go through a Treasury commission and an extraordinary plenary session, Barcala also assumes 20 of the 26 amendments presented by Vox. These changes “help improve our budget project to continue moving forward with the greatest possible stability in the transformation and improvement of Alicante,” according to the mayor. Among them, stands out an allocation of one million euros to effectively develop the professional careers of officials and the incorporation of ultra training in various security and tourism measures. With this pact, Alicante will also have an anti-abortion office and an anti-squatter service and will undertake a cultural policy aimed at Vox's obsessions. The agreement announces “the updating of the Nativity Scene Museum, the increase in the endowment of the Bullfighting School and the beginning of work for the creation of the Holy Week Museum.”

The Alicante Low Emissions Zone, as stated on the municipal website, is structured into two road axes. The first, an inner ring that borders the traditional center of the city, limited between Alfonso El Sabio Avenue, the Marvá-Soto-Gadea axis, Benacantil Mountain and the coastal strip. The second is an outer ring that covers practically the entire urban layout between Gran Vía, Dénia Avenue and the sea. In compliance with the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, which includes the establishment of ZBEs in cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, Alicante has already undertaken signage, pedestrianization and traffic calming and sustainable mobility works, mainly in the center. However, the absence of a sanctioning regime will mean that the entry of polluting vehicles into protected areas will be at the mercy of the responsibility of each driver starting in June, which is when it is expected to come into force.

For Compromís councilor Rafa Mas, the agreement reached is “a shame, a scam on citizens” that could cost Europe the withdrawal of aid. Furthermore, if the final document fails to comply with the legislation drafted by Minister Teresa Ribera's cabinet, the Alicante City Council could incur “a possible crime of prevarication”, in Mas' opinion. With this handshake between PP and Vox, plus the rest of the accepted amendments, Alicante remains a “more polluted, more unfair and more unsupportive” city, in his opinion. From their party, they maintain that the ZBE without fines will be “ridiculous, inoperative and ineffective.” The same position is adopted by the socialist municipal spokesperson, Ana Barceló, who maintains that “Barcala gives in to the demands of the right” and that “the bargaining chip has been to bow to climate change denialism, which would not comply with the demands of the Union.” European”, something that the socialists anticipate that they are going to “fight”.

For Pilar Bernabé, Government delegate in the Valencian Community, the pact between PP and Vox is “another example” that the union of both parties generates “setbacks that were unthinkable a few years ago” and that “have no place in a modern society that has reached the international consensus of the 2030 agenda. “Denialism” leads to “people hearing in cities that there are governments that do not take action against climate change.” But, in her opinion, “they are not going to achieve it, no matter how hard they try, no one can go against the legislative framework of the European Union.”