The European Investment Bank (EIB) has already financed Italy with 300 million for the repair of the damage caused by the ravages of the cold drop of last year, but is waiting for some pronouncement from the Spanish Government to do the same in the Mar Menor and other devastated areas in Spain.

Italy has thus advanced to Spain, since the effects of the so-called DANA (Isolated Depression in High Levels) in Venice and other areas of Italy took place in November, while in Murcia and the Valencian Community were devastating in September. The reason that one has gone faster than the other is due, on the one hand, to the fact that Italy has taken advantage of extending a loan already granted previously and, on the other, to the blockade of the Ministry of Finance to the loan to the Murcia government that is advanced.

The Spanish vice president of the EIB, Emma Navarro , declines to comment on what happened between the Ministry and communities in Spain, but confirms the willingness of this European bank to help rebuild the effects of the cold drop. "The EIB is working and discussing with Murcia and Valencia operations related to DANA to facilitate financing for investments linked to reconstruction after the storm," he declares to EL MUNDO after presenting a balance of operations of the agency in Spain in Madrid. «From the EIB we believe that this type of investment has a very good fit with our mission and is a financing that we have offered in other countries. For example, recently in Venice after the floods, ”he points out in reference to the project signed a few weeks ago by the EIB with the Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte.

As this newspaper published last Saturday, the Ministry of Finance keeps blocked the loans that have the most worked EIB that are requested by the Murcian Government. In the Ministry they settle that the blockade is due to the application of the Stability Law that prohibits borrowing from the Murcia government by breaking the deficit rules, although there is still no official response.

For his part, the Murcian Minister of the Presidency and Finance, Javier Celdrán, argues that when it comes to catastrophes such as DANA, the law itself allows exceptions and insists that the true argument given by the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, Murcia was lowering taxes and that was "inconsistent" with requesting permission to borrow . Another option is for the central government to apply for the loan directly, but that alternative that Italy has used is not being explored.

"It is not for the EIB to assess internal decisions between the different Spanish Administrations," says Navarro, but makes it clear that without Montero's approval, there will be no loan to Murcia. «The financing offered by the EIB must always have the conformity of the Government of Spain» , ditch Navarro, who replaced Román Escolano in 2018 in the EIB vice-presidency.

The Murcian Government has requested a total of two loans of 320 million. The first, of 120 million, for reconstruction of the damages of the DANA; and the second, of 200 million, for the Zero Discharge plan in the Mar Menor promoted by the vice president for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera.

Celdrán plans to complain about this and other financing problems in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) convened for Friday by Montero, who needs to communicate to this forum a new deficit path to start the procedure of the Budgets.

As for the Generalitat Valenciana, it explores participating in a loan from the EIB to several regions, but it also exceeds the debt limit due to its non-compliance with the deficit, so, theoretically, it would also receive the Treasury blockade.

The EIB, based in Luxembourg, is key to financing Spain. According to the balance presented by Navarro, it received 8,966 million in 2019, 6% more than in the previous year. The second beneficiary behind Italy.

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  • Italy
  • Spain
  • Murcia
  • Teresa Ribera
  • Valencia
  • Roman Escolano
  • Maria Jesus Montero
  • Madrid
  • Valencian Community

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