The President of the Government defends the coordinated response with the Generalitat of Valencia as the most responsible and effective way to deal with the Dana catastrophe. During his subsequent appearance at the Council of Ministers, which has promoted million-dollar aid to all those affected, Pedro Sánchez has avoided any hint of reproach to Carlos Mazón and has even avoided a clash with Alberto Núñez Feijóo to champion a message of political unity in the face of the tragedy.
“Citizens want to see their institutions not fighting, but working side by side in responding to emergencies, as the Government of Spain is doing,” he defended. In response to questions from the press, Sánchez provided an extensive explanation of the reasons that led him to rule out a state of alarm that would displace the Valencian Government from its responsibility.
“The Government of Spain understands that there is no minute to lose and that replacing those responsible for the Generalitat would have meant reducing the effectiveness of the response. But it is also a question of institutional respect. We talk a lot about political leaders and little about public servants. These days I have met commendable people who are working day and night without sleeping to help their neighbors. And that is why we have all the respect and recognition for the work of the public servants of the Generalitat, the provincial councils and the city councils. “We are all states,” he said.
The president has insisted on this message throughout the appearance, arguing that those responsible for the regional administration could not be displaced in an emergency situation like the one experienced in Valencia by the Dana. “It is the Generalitat that best knows the resources, the territory and the needs. And what the state has to do is support it. The responsibility of the Government of Spain is to exercise its powers and help the rest of the administrations to develop their own powers in the best possible way. This is an emergency situation with the need to adopt urgent measures, and that is what we have done. The political debate will come, but now we come to what is important. And the important thing is to be with the people,” he said.
Expressly questioned by the criticisms of Carlos Mazón and the PP regarding the Government’s response, Pedro Sánchez has also shied away from any reproach either to the management of the Generalitat or to the criticism of the opposition. “I insist, we are not going to enter into the debate of taking you off and putting me on. We are what we are. To unity, effectiveness, institutional respect for public servants and responsibility. The different speeches that in this case the Generalitat Valenciana and the PP have at the national level are political analyzes that correspond to you,” he answered the journalists’ questions.
Regarding the feeling of abandonment in the first hours of the tragedy and the delay in the emergency response denounced by those affected, the president has asked to postpone any debate on the distribution of responsibilities until normality has returned to the lives of those affected. Valencians. “There will be time to talk about effectiveness and analyze how to improve the responses or the negligence that could have been committed. But now I am not going to enter into political debates. What citizens need is an effective and united response to the tragedy. I can only say that the Government of Spain was there from the first minute, from the first second, and even before to respond to this tragedy.”
The president wanted to downplay the situation experienced last Sunday in Paiporta during the visit in which he accompanied the Kings and President Mazón to the affected area and has limited the altercations to organized far-right groups. “It is very easy to differentiate those who express their anger at the situation they are experiencing from other perfectly organized ultra groups that were going to cause the greatest possible damage. I am fine and they are not going to divert me from fundamental care. The protagonists are the affected citizens, the victims,” he concluded.
Reconstruction plan
During his appearance he detailed the package of measures and aid approved and “aimed at those affected by DANA.” Firstly, the Executive has declared those hardest hit places in the Valencian Community, Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, Catalonia and Aragon as “areas severely affected by an emergency.” In addition, the Government has approved an “emergency Decree Law in which all economic, labor and fiscal aid is compiled.”
“We are going to quadruple the planned public aid and make it universal, without income thresholds, for all households,” explained the President of the Government. Specifically, there are “72,000 euros for cases of disability; between 20,000 and 60,000 euros for the repair of damaged homes; and up to 10,300 euros to repair or change furniture or appliances.”
A measure that was already known is that, from the Treasury, the Valencian Generalitat is authorized the possibility of carrying out “all the emergency expenses that it needs without any limit of resources”, also allowing the Community to fail to meet the deficit objectives due to the disaster. of the DANA.
The Executive is also in communication with the European Commission and the procedures have been initiated to request help from the European Solidarity Fund and the use of other community support resources from the European Union.
For its part, the Ministry of Labor has deployed a series of measures aimed at protecting workers affected by DANA, which include prohibiting dismissal and offering paid leave in certain situations, as well as prioritizing the use of teleworking. This ‘labor shield’ has legal effects from the day of the catastrophe, Tuesday, October 29, according to the first vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz.
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