García-Page announces progress in the search for «institutional and financial support from Europe» for strategic projects in the region
Brussels (Belgium), February 20, 2025.- The regional president, Emiliano García-Page, announced this afternoon in Brussels (Belgium) that «we have made progress in seeking institutional and financial support from Europe» to develop strategic projects in Castilla-La Mancha, which will continue with future contacts «with the European Investment Bank».
He confirmed this after a working meeting with the Executive Vice President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, in a «very useful» meeting, he added, because «we agree quite a bit on the major issues» but also on more specific issues such as promoting renewable energies and sustainable industries, as well as addressing depopulation.
Specifically, García-Page reported progress on an «important project that can create more than 200 direct jobs in Abenójar, in the province of Ciudad Real» thanks to «a tungsten exploitation that allows us to have, only in that plant, 25 percent of all the production needed» to meet European demand and is primarily used in sectors such as defense and construction.
In this context, he emphasized that an initiative of this nature could «completely revolutionize that area» and is closely related to the green steel mill of Hydnum Steel, that is, «the major project of starting to produce steel based on green hydrogen», an idea that «is the future of steel production» for the entire continent.
Therefore, he confirmed that, together with European Vice President Teresa Ribera, they have made progress in «the hydrogen strategy that we have planned» in the region and see many possibilities for the parallel industry that generates a new energy to develop in the central hub that is Puertollano in the province of Ciudad Real.
Furthermore, the regional president stressed the «fight against depopulation strategy» that Europe already supports «in the provinces of Teruel, Soria, and Cuenca» with very positive results, as «it is working and generating the arrival of new residents and public and private investments», so he reiterated his request that «it can be extended to neighboring areas that are in the same situation», that is, «two-thirds of the province of Guadalajara» affected by this demographic phenomenon. In this regard, he expressed optimism that this proposal «will make its way because it is common sense», he concluded.
With Bildu, Junts, and Puigdemont, «you cannot talk about the unity of Spain»
When asked by journalists gathered at the Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Commission, about national current affairs and the Minimum Interprofessional Salary, García-Page warned that «today, the greatest threat to equality among Spaniards is posed by those who attack equality among Spaniards», García-Page noted, urging the government to «defend the concept of equality in Spain without budging an inch».
He also found it «curious that Puigdemont is playing to increase labor costs in Catalonia. It’s fine, but the minimum wage has to be by its own name, as its name indicates, minimum and minimum, obviously, throughout Spain».
A «very healthy» climate in European dialogue
According to the regional president, it is «very healthy that, just two hours by plane from Madrid, there is a climate totally paradoxical and contradictory to Madrid» referring to the ratification, «just yesterday» of «the vote between the European Socialist Group and the European Popular Group» in contrast to «one of the most monumental clashes in a control session as was experienced in the Congress», he reflected.
All this on a day when he also attended the 164th Plenary Session of the Committee of the Regions, where Hungarian Kata Tüttö was elected president, who will alternate this responsibility over the next five years with Andalusian president Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla. This Thursday, both in the European Parliament and at the headquarters of the European Commission, García-Page was accompanied by the second vice president of the Junta, José Manuel Caballero; the Director General of European Affairs of the regional government, Nazareth Rodrigo; and MEP Cristina Maestre.