The tsunami of water and mud with which the last DANA hit Valencia has caused destruction unprecedented in decades in a region accustomed to experiencing inclement weather. The Valencian business fabric is now faced with a very complicated horizon for which The president of the CEV employers’ association, Salvador Navarro, has demanded all public support possible in a meeting yesterday with the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz.
What have been the measures that have been proposed to the minister?
A key point has been the issue of the Ertes, which have worked in the Covid pandemic. Although we have also made it clear that this is a different situation, that there may be Eres here due to the blow it represents to many companies. We have requested that for those Ertes of force majeure, one hundred percent of the contribution be covered with supplements from both the central and regional Administrations. We have also asked that all those affected by DANA be included, whether it is a business from municipalities like Paiporta or a company from Chiva or a carrier from Barcelona who was caught here.
Have these proposals been well received?
The minister came with the proposals made and in that sense the meeting has gone quite well, although in the case of the Ertes the commitment not to fire workers in three years will be in the regulations.
In addition to this labor measure, what do Valencian businessmen consider most urgent?
We have asked for a specific decree law like the one in La Palma for the volcano with financial and economic issues and that includes specific issues, especially infrastructure because many millions will be necessary.
You have insisted these days that we were not yet aware of the magnitude of the catastrophe, can it be sized now?
No, it is still something impossible. Today we have been talking to businessmen and companies are focused on cleaning and are not yet considering manufacturing. It is still early, there is still a lot of machinery and lost product that remains to be known and throughout this week we will be able to better assess the situation. The land network is extremely damaged and from the data that has been transmitted to me there are more than 80,000 private vehicles and 10,000 heavy transport vehicles destroyed.
What do Valencian companies need to guarantee survival in the face of a crisis of these dimensions?
For recovery, what we need is for there to be soft loans, for financial entities to extend all loan maturities, not postpone them. Commerce and the self-employed are going to be one of the elements that will suffer the most. On Wednesday we are going to have a meeting with banks to raise these immediate needs.
What investments in infrastructure do you want this decree-law to contemplate?
This community has not had the support of investment and adequate infrastructure on many occasions, in many years and by different governments. I think we have to take the opportunity to rethink, for example, whether a second bypass of Valencia is needed. To precisely avoid serious problems such as those caused by it being cut. Or investments in railways or those that the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation should have made many years ago, which were water investments such as the case of the tragic Poyo ravine. We must take the opportunity to configure new accesses for Valencia.
Have they given administrations deadlines for returning to a certain normality and reconstruction?
No, because we are still focused on what is fundamental, which is saving lives and finding the missing. It is difficult to see the apocalyptic images and dare to talk about deadlines.
Does the business community share the indignation that is emerging among those affected by DANA?
Clearly there has been a lack of coordination. Undoubtedly, the protocols must be reviewed because all the coordination measures and all the information have failed. I was in Sedaví on Saturday at an institute bringing water, food and clothing. Of course I understand the critical situation that the neighbors have experienced and are experiencing, of course.
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