The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, of the PP, called on the PSPV-PSOE and Compromís this Monday to “keep quiet” and “not to disturb” while the is negotiating the return of the Copa del América sailing to Valencia so that the city has “the shine it deserves.” Mazón has accused the Valencian left of applauding the almost 20 million euros that the Government of Spain has allocated as a subsidy to this competition recently held in Barcelona, and he has wondered if the Valencian minister – in reference to the socialist Diana Morant – approves that figure for Barcelona and does not want it for her country.
“But what joke is this? “Now it turns out that we can’t have the Copa América like the Catalans have had?” questioned the president, who, in statements to the media in Meliana (Valencia), stated that he has seen “shocking” changes in position. in Valencian socialism, as with the equalization fund, but this “takes the cake.”
He has reproached the PSPV for saying no to the possibility of the Copa América at this time when “we are risking everything, at the most delicate moment of our negotiations, at the moment when we need the support of the entire Valencian society to bring wealth, to bring promotion, to bring shine” to the city of Valencia.
The president has criticized that the Valencian minister of the Government has to appear to “try to put a spanner in the wheel” and also say that they are not going to give “any support when not even three days ago they just gave it to the celebration in Catalonia “, and has considered the position of “in Barcelona yes and in Valencia no” to be “very serious.”
Mazón has demanded a rectification and an explanation from the Valencian left as to why they are “in favor of 20 million for Barcelona and zero for Valencia” with the same event and the same characteristics, and if not “at least they should shut up.” and let them work.
The Minister of Science and general secretary of the PSPV-PSOE, Diana Morant, stated last week about the possible return of the Copa del América: “It is not the priority of the Valencian Community today. The priority should be that Mazón pays, because it is the community with the most late payments and that pays its suppliers later. Let him fix what he is destroying and then we will talk about the Copa del América and other things,” he assured.
The Government delegate in the Valencian Community, also a socialist Pilar Bernabé, criticized the intentions also expressed by the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, to host the competition again. Fixed opinion of the PP rulers has been forceful: “They were making a simpa of a party that all of us Spaniards have paid for and that cost exactly 400 million euros. I say this because I have also been hearing something like what we question when the government has put 18 million euros into the Copa América in Catalonia. At the moment we are 380 ahead of that edition.”
Most of those 400 million were allocated to the construction of the new Valencia Marina for the 2007 regattas. For this, a consortium was formed between the Government, the City Council and the Generalitat (the first, governed by the PSOE and the others two institutions for the PP). The Government finally assumed the payment of the credit requested from the ICO.
Last week, Barcelona City Council responded through the deputy mayor of Economy and person in charge of Economic Promotion, Jordi Vallsto the previous day’s announcement by the winning team, Teams New Zealand, that it was not going to repeat the venue. Valls’ story is that Barcelona opted for the sailing America’s Cup in 2021 in a context of exit from the pandemic, hangover from process and “a certain discouragement in the city”, he set some objectives, invested in them and they have been met. But once has been enough, he said: “There is a legacy and extending it until 2026 would not contribute anything.” He also made it clear that the City Council, “the public sector” is not willing to put money back into an eventual second edition of the competition. Among the opposition parties in the City Council, Junts, the Commons and ERC demanded clear figures on the expenditure and return of the event. Only the PP and Vox regretted that the regattas will not be repeated in the city.
The Generalitat and the City Council estimated the total cost of the event at 70 million, contributed between administrations (in finalist money) and private parties (in guarantees to guarantee the return). Among the various administrations, 54 million euros were allocated, 10 million of which came from the City Council.
