The Socialists voted against the amendment to the General Budgets of their partners to include a game of 20 million for the extension of the line, which was supported by PP and Ciudadanos
A Murcian politician said yesterday, who followed the vote on the partial amendments to the General State Budget (PGE), that it was one of those rare days, almost impossible, where all the planets seemed to be aligned so that something impossible could happen. It was not long, only three votes, for it to happen in the Congressional Commission where the proposals of all the political groups to the state accounts for 2023 were voted on. One of them, 3,761, presented by Unidas Podemos (PSOE partner in the Government ), requested that an item of 20 million euros be included to extend the tram line to the Carmen station. The Socialists rejected it and the amendment did not go ahead, despite having the support of PP and Ciudadanos, among others.
The final votes were 15 in favor (Podemos, PP, Cs and Junts per Catalunya) and 17 against (PSOE, Bildu, ERC and Canary Coalition). The five Vox deputies present in the Commission did not vote. If they had, the amendment would be approved.
The reactions did not wait when the news broke in Murcia. The coordinator of the purple formation, Javier Sánchez Serna, regretted that “the Socialist Party has written one of the saddest pages in its history in Murcia by voting against the extension of the tram to the Carmen station.”
Miguel Sánchez, from Ciudadanos, will take the Podemos proposal to the Senate to give it a second chance
There was a moment of confusion, according to Podemos, in which it seemed that the vote was tied at 17 votes, and “they have no doubts” that the tiebreaker was caused by “socialist pressures on other minority groups.”
The result was not explained by the senator of Ciudadanos for Murcia, Miguel Sánchez, neither by the position of the PSOE nor by that of Vox. But since his group is clear about the need for this item to be in the budgets “and not the result of an agreement with the Ministry of Transport, as the Socialists defend, I will incorporate it into the amendments that I will present.” Sánchez recalled that Unidas Podemos does not have representation in the Upper House. “And if the votes of Congress are maintained and Vox wakes up, he can leave,” he concluded.
They were the mayor of Murcia, José Antonio Serrano, and the deputy for Murcia Marisol Sánchez Jódar who explained the socialist position. Sánchez Jódar criticized the attitude of United We Can, “which seems to want to be in the Government and the opposition at the same time.” He added that infrastructures of this type are being carried out despite not being in the Budget, while Serrano recalled that they are in contact with the Ministry of Transport to obtain “financing in accordance with the city” and that the decision should be made before the end of year. But “no more details of the formula will be given until everything is more advanced,” the deputy concluded.
The Popular Party also had no luck with the amendment in which it asked for a game of 20 million for the tram to reach the Virgen de la Arrixaca hospital from El Carmen, as a complement to that of Podemos. In this case, even the purple party voted against (they explained that it was part of a block with other amendments).
The spokeswoman for the Murcian PP, Rebeca Pérez, stressed that the PSOE “has once again blocked a strategic project for Murcia while financing the tramway in Palma de Mallorca and the expansion of the subway in Seville”, which she described as “unjustified and worrying grievance”.
From Vox they argued their position indicating that they had voted in favor of the PP proposal “which is about the same thing” and that they were going to take a motion to the next Murcia plenary session to reject the contrary vote of the PSOE.
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