The Popular Government team achieved the approval of their 2025 budgets for the City Council of Albacete this Tuesday after a series of amendments, thanks to the abstention of the three non-affiliated councilors who left VOX in 2024 and the abstention of Unidas Podemos. The Socialist Party and Vox voted against the budgets, resulting in 10 votes against, 4 abstentions, and 12 votes in favor from the Popular Party councilors.
Albacete will have a budget of 206.5 million euros for 2025, with an additional 46 million euros from investments coming from surpluses and another 1.7 million euros in capital transfers, totaling 254 million euros. However, the Councilor of Finance, Alberto Reina, clarified that the budgets are an estimate based on the technical team’s forecasts at the City Council due to the absence of the General State Budgets and the impact of fiscal pressure.
«The forecasts are based on previous budgets and the analysis of the City Council’s professionals,» highlighted Reina.
### AMENDMENTS
The City Council budgets have been previously modified by a series of approved amendments proposed by the non-affiliated councilors, Unidas Podemos, and the Popular Party itself. The Vox councilors who were expelled from the party for supporting the previous year’s budgets against Abascal’s group direction have managed to pass a total of eight modifications, all supported by the Popular Party.
The non-affiliated councilor Leticia Martínez, who explained that the three councilors without a group joined forces to draft these measures, detailed that the partial amendments include an increase of 50,000 euros to finance foreign language learning, an additional 25,000 euros for the charitable institution Cotolengo, an increase in subsidies for associations that prevent drug addiction in the city, 3,000 euros to fund each of the summer schools promoted by the associations specialized in people with disabilities Asprona and Desarrollo, an investment of 950,000 euros to renovate the Villacerrada market, and 200,000 euros to create beach volleyball facilities.
Unidas Podemos has also presented a series of social partial amendments. The party’s councilor, María Nieves Navarro, managed to approve a partial amendment to the budget memorandum with the Socialist Party voting against and the support of the rest of the groups, who appreciated her «propositional and negotiator» approach.
Navarro has included in the budgets a Children and Youth Guarantees Plan, a plan to promote extracurricular activities, grants for federated women’s sports, the creation of a campaign to raise awareness of sports values, the promotion of a public ludoteca service, a collaboration agreement with ‘Ea! Teatro’ and other cultural groups, the creation of entertainment areas in the Alba Redondo field, the construction of a playground with a green area, and the installation of climate shelters.
Some of her proposals were rejected, such as her main request for the development of a public housing plan, a program to assist suicide disorders, a municipal plan to manage drug addiction issues, or the review of the feline colonies control program. The Popular Party councilor, Alberto Reina, has committed to working to make all agreed amendments a reality from the Government team.
The Socialist group spokesperson, Amparo Torres, presented another 8 partial amendments to the plenary session that were rejected. These included their own public housing plan, an Industrial and Logistics Development plan to expand the industrial estates of Albacete and improve their competitiveness, the pedestrianization of Tesifonte Gallego street, the installation of an energy efficiency center at the bus station, the promotion of the city as the Spanish capital of gastronomy, and the creation of a sports palace, a music palace, and a museum of realistic art in various iconic buildings in the provincial capital.
On the other hand, the Vox group presented a total amendment to the budgets, accusing them of creating debt and leading the City Council «to a critical situation,» as described by the spokesperson and sole councilor of the group, Lorena González, who also accused the Government team of not developing the industrial land in Albacete.
González also criticized during her speech the irregular immigrant settlements on the city outskirts, the maintenance of the two international cooperation allocations, equality policies, and the Agenda 2030. The latter statements were labeled as «racist,» «backward,» and «denial of macho violence» by the other parties.
Finally, the Councilor of Finance, Alberto Reina, introduced two partial amendments to his own budgets, which included a social fund for personal assistance, negotiated with union representatives, and a cultural promotion plan. Both were approved with the Socialist Party voting against and the support of the rest of the councilors.
### FINAL DEBATE
The final debate on the budgets began with the justification of the abstention of the Unidas Podemos councilor, Nieves Navarro, who clarified that although the budgets do not fully align with her party, they are in the plenary «to do politics» from a «propositional» attitude, pushing through all possible amendments «to benefit the citizens and make the community part of our city.»
Navarro recalled that both her vote and her proposals had been previously approved by consensus in assembly with the members of her group.
The Socialist group spokesperson, Amparo Torres, criticized the delay in presenting the budget proposal and that it was shown to the press before the other groups. She believed this was because «the budgets were born approved as a result of the transfuguism» of the three non-affiliated councilors who left Vox.
The Mayor of Albacete, Manuel Serrano, reminded Torres that he had invited her to negotiate the budgets before the plenary, and criticized her for refusing «to even sit down to talk because she already had the budget narrative written,» unlike the Unidas Podemos group «whose vote we didn’t need but whose opinion we took into account to make better budgets.» The Vox spokesperson criticized the mayor for not being called in the previous negotiations, something that Serrano justified by the «denialist and racist» attitude of the far-right party.
«If she comes to her senses and decides to help in the fight for equality and against macho violence, we will call her,» the mayor responded to González. Serrano concluded by stating that the votes against the budgets by Vox and the Socialist Party placed the Popular Party «in the liberal center» and affirmed that the new economic plan «will continue the city’s improvement» in a line that has achieved successes such as a 12% reduction in unemployment in the two years of his term.
FUENTE