Barcelona joins the mayors' 'rebellion' and they will stand up to Montero in Congress if there is no dialogue

• Crisis.The 'rebellion' of the mayors raises the pressure: "We fear that the Government will punish us"

• Montero. "Nobody steals anything here. There is no other alternative.

Deferred dialectical combat, that could be a good definition of the confrontation between the Minister of Finance,

, and some thirty mayors who oppose the agreement for the distribution of aid against Covid-19 reached between the Government and the

.

The movement has been called the

and this Tuesday it has gained even more force by

, to the rejection.

Their demands have also gained strength and demand that the Government dialogue directly with them or, otherwise, they will go to the Congress of Deputies on the day the royal decree that includes the measures of the pact is voted on.

"We have asked for active and passive dialogue. The day that the validation of the royal decree is to be voted on, we will have our voices heard in Congress," said

, mayor of Zaragoza and one of the promoters of the movement, after the telematic meeting held this morning by the municipal officials involved.

At the meeting, they have also decided to request the Government to approve an

with urgent measures and unanimously established by all, which

to access the 5,000 million euro fund contemplated in the agreement with the Femp and the 1,000 million millions for public transport and, finally, allow the consistories to freely dispose of the remnants accumulated in recent years.

"The municipalities urgently and urgently need state and European aid to be able to continue providing our neighbors with the services and anti-Covid measures they need and collaborate from the local level in the essential reactivation of the economy. We need them now to be able to execute them with guarantees during the rest of this budget year ", includes the statement published at the end of the videoconference.

The agreement signed between the Executive of Pedro Sánchez and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Femp) establishes the mechanism to use the savings of the municipalities, the so-called

, to alleviate the economic and social effects of Covid-19.

The amount amounts to about 14,000 million euros and, in exchange, the Executive undertakes to return that money within 10 years in addition to creating a fund of 5,000 million (2,000 for this year and 3,000 for 2021) in charge of the State's general budgets.

Only those localities that have contributed something will be able to access this fund and this is the basis for one of the claims of the municipal 'rebellion'.

They demand that all municipalities that need it, regardless of their financial situation, be

Local "discrimination"

The agreement went ahead with the support of the socialist councilors and the casting vote of the president of the Femp, the mayor of Vigo and socialist Abel Caballero.

The rest of mayors have been against when considering that "it violates the financial autonomy of the local entities" and generates "an inadmissible discrimination" between them.

Some popular councilors described it as "robbery" and "looting", although Minister Montero responded forcefully yesterday from the Lower House.

I assure you.

The head of the Treasury defended her department's proposal as the only one possible to finance the recovery at the municipal level and allow the consistories to spend 5,000 million of their remnants without skipping the Constitution or the Stability Law of 2012.

However, Montero put on the table the offer not to start up the remnant fund until the decree is validated and then process it as the norm as a bill so that Congress can perfect that part.

"It is the most that I can raise. I am absolutely clear and sincere," he settled.

This option does not convince the mayors either, who consider it "unacceptable".

"That would mean insisting on a huge mistake and, furthermore, delaying the measures that could be approved beyond this year," they say.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• economy

• Maria Jesus Montero

HaciendaMontero attacks the mayors' 'rebellion': "Nobody steals anything here. There is no other alternative"

Shock plan The self-employed ask the Government to consider extending the ERTE until April 2021 in light of the rise in outbreaks and confinements

Macroeconomics The outbreaks take the Ibex 35 away from recovery and condemn it as the worst index in Europe

See links of interest

• Last News

• Programming

• English translator

• Work calendar

• Daily horoscope

• Santander League Standings

• League schedule

• Movies TV

• 2019 cut notes

• Topics

• Live, the fourth stage of the Tour