López Miras announces a Financial Autonomy Law, a strategic plan until 2027 and strategies to consolidate Primary Care and project the industrial sector
“We will shield the fiscal powers recognized by the Constitution and we will protect the citizens of the Region of Murcia from interference or attempts at fiscal harmonization that hide tax increases.” With those words, Fernando López Miras announced this Tuesday, in the first of the two days of the Debate on the State of the Region, his intention to approve in the last section of the X Legislature the first Law of Financial Autonomy of the Region of Murcia . According to the president of the Community, his government does not want to raise taxes. “And we don’t want anyone to upload them to the citizens of the Region,” he said.
In the 65 minutes that his appearance in the Assembly lasted, López Miras highlighted that the policy of “fiscal restraint” applied by his Cabinet in the last six years has saved taxpayers more than 1,300 million euros. “I have no doubt that these savings, and therefore fiscal containment, translate into higher consumption, higher investment and higher job growth,” he said.
Another prominent announcement by the president is the development of the 2022-2027 Strategic Plan, which will be presented in the second half of this year. He described it as the main management planning instrument, both strategic and territorial, social and economic. It is the consequence, he said, of a participatory process with social agents, organizations and parties. “Once we have heard and taken note of the claims, we are working on all the necessary investments to ensure the future of our Region in the medium and long term.” The Community has prepared a proposal for Feder Programs and the European Social Fund worth 837 million euros for the period 2021-2027, with an execution period that will begin in January 2023. The Autonomous Administration will contribute 40% of the amount total, advanced the president.
Economic issues were the focus of much of the first minutes of López Miras’ speech before the Autonomous Chamber. Also the initiatives that the Executive is preparing to revitalize it at a time of special difficulty. Among the dozen announcements that he slipped into his speech, he highlighted the so-called «RIS4MUR Strategy», which he presented as a commitment to research and development. “With this strategy, which will be presented shortly, we are going to move forward with a more internationalised, innovative production model with more qualified jobs. It will be endowed with 714 million euros until 2027 », he assured.
For economic recovery, the role of industry must be essential. And Cartagena, according to the president, will be essential as an industrial and technological hub, supported by the UPCT, with special training within the industry dedicated to the security and defense sector. “We are going to launch a program to promote dual technologies to make it easier for our companies to access this type of global project,” he announced. Thus, the Community will finance the obtaining of the Pecal certification of NATO quality assurance, will subsidize the costs of advice that they may need and will also assume the cost of the presence and participation of companies in international defense fairs. The Region will request its incorporation into the European Network of Defense Regions, to which the European Union allocates 8,000 million euros to develop projects until 2027.
López Miras confirmed that in the coming weeks he will bring to the Assembly the Regional Law for the Dynamization of Investments, Freedom and Public Efficiency, with which he intends to “support three pillars: new formulas for administrative simplification, less interventionism and more efficient spending.”
He also referred to the infrastructure pact presented on the eve of the Debate on the State of the Region and offered the parties with parliamentary representation other regional agreements on strategic issues: one for the Mar Menor, the new one against gender violence, the one for water and that of youth. In his environment they highlighted that López Miras appeared in Cartagena with “the hand outstretched” to the opposition.
Improvements in public health
Similarly, with growing public pressure due to the weakened public health situation, López Miras announced a comprehensive plan to improve Primary Care. It will be presented at the end of the year and “addresses the necessary provision of human resources with the commitment to create, in the next four years, two hundred new positions for doctors and nurses in the staff of the Murcian Health Service.” This document will define the actions to improve the operation of Primary Care and “changes in the current structure to give professionals a greater role.” As a sign of his commitment to this matter, he announced that the 2023 Regional Budget will include a final item exclusively for Primary Care.
There will also be a program to promote mental health in adults through sport, as well as the construction of new infrastructure: the La Seda mental health center in Murcia, “opening imminently”; that of El Palmar, intended for children under 16 years of age in that Murcian district and in Alcantarilla, whose opening is scheduled for the end of the year; and the expansion of the Arrixaca Short-Term Psychiatric Hospitalization Unit. In health matters, he also advanced that the Summer Plan provides for the hiring of five thousand professionals to guarantee health care in the summer months.
Other notable announcements by the President of the Community are the 8.5 million European funds that will be allocated to aid lines for the modernization of tourist establishments, the future recovery of the portico of the Roman Theater of Cartagena, a project that will also be addressed with one million from Europe and the forthcoming opening of a technical office for Next Generation funds “to advise and help those who come to it from the first to the last step to obtain those much-needed funds,” he said.
López Miras appeared supported by almost all the members of his Governing Council, who together with the PP deputies interrupted their leader’s speech with applause on four occasions. Counselor Mabel Campuzano missed the appointment for personal reasons. She did not prevent the president from referring to “quality” in education and his commitment to making the Region a land of “educational freedom.” In this matter, he advanced that the Community will open six new school canteens next year.
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