SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 16 Oct (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Finance Minister of the Canary Islands Government, Matilde Asián, has condemned the decision made by Pedro Sánchez’s Government not to submit the General State Budgets (PGE) for 2025, deeming it “astonishing” and cautioning about the repercussions that another extension would entail.
During a parliamentary committee meeting, Matilde Asián emphasised that the submission of the Budgets is “a constitutional duty” requiring the Government to prepare and present them three months before the expiration of the previous year’s budget, hence enabling the autonomous communities to deliver their accounts “in a timely manner.”
Matilde Asián expressed her disappointment that this constitutional duty was already contravened last year, despite contrary advice from the State Attorney’s Office. She remains hopeful that there will be budgets for 2025, despite it being “a challenging year” for the Spanish Government due to its failure to establish a parliamentary majority.
In this regard, Asián finds it “astonishing” not only the Sanchez Government’s choice not to present the State Budget for 2025 but also “the justifications for this decision, the costs involved, and, above all, the resultant uncertainty.”
The minister pointed out that the extension of the 2023 budgets has led to “significant delays” in transfers, stating that of the 880 million euros the Government was expected to transfer to the Canary Islands this year, only 17.5 million had been received by August. Therefore, she warned that a further extension would create a “cycle of confusion, where some items may be approved while others are not.”
The Treasury head stressed that submitting a budget is “an act of transparency and provides certainty and legal assurance to all administrations, businesses, and citizens,” asserting that “one cannot agree for some days while leaving others uncertain based on circumstances.”
On the topic of the financing system, Matilde Asián acknowledged that it is “extremely concerning” because, based on the amounts communicated for advance payments, which totalled 6,594 million euros, a loss of 969 million euros would occur if these payments do not materialise and we are subjected to another delay, as has been the case this year with the extension of the 2023 budgets.
Meanwhile, deputy Fernando Enseñat lambasted the Pedro Sánchez Government for again planning to suspend the State Budgets due to an upcoming congress in Junts, thus compelling the Canary Islands Government to present its accounts “blindly, without any guidelines and fraught with uncertainty.”
