The proposal for the Government’s financing system has become this Monday the great point of collision between the PP candidate, Jorge Azcón, and his biggest rival, the socialist Pilar Alegría. In a face to face televised by Aragón TV, the two headliners have revealed the different paths in which both parties are on this issue. While the acting president stressed that the model “leaves Aragon as it is”, the former minister defended that the project will provide the community with an additional 630 million euros, more resources – he said – to create positions for doctors, nursing homes or housing.
Financing, which initially had to occupy only one block, ended up extending to the rest of the debate once it entered the dialogue, introduced by Azcón. The popular candidate has assured that it is unfair “for the Aragonese and for the Spanish”, that he only seeks to ensure that “Sánchez remains in Moncloa” and, in fact, it has served him to directly attack Alegría: “That is why Sánchez has sent him to Aragón, to make him say ‘yes’, so that he continues to humiliate himself before the Catalan independentists.”
In reaction, Alegría has called Azcón “Mr. No” and has accused the PP of not moving away from confrontation and refusing to sit down to negotiate a consensual model. As he has defended, if the PP refuses to accept a model that would allow the construction of more than 4,000 homes a year, 80 residences for the elderly or hiring 15,000 doctors, it is simply “because they also propose it to the person next door and because whoever proposes it dislikes them.” In fact, the opposition has also questioned the refusal to forgive 2.1 billion debt “despite the fact that it is very expensive for the Aragonese.”
“When you talk about forgiveness, you are talking about us paying the debts of the Catalans,” Azcón responded, who asked why the socialist president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, also refuses to accept that model. In fact, Azcón has repeatedly asked Alegría why he defended the principle of ordinality – a demand of Catalonia – and, on the other hand, he did not support depopulation factors being taken into account more, which would benefit Aragon, which is why he concluded that he promoted “lack of solidarity and inequality.” “The financing system includes the cost of services,” the socialist presidential candidate responded.
The face to face of the two great candidates to win the elections, however, is the first to occur in Aragon since the popular Luisa Fernanda Rudi faced Javier Lambán almost 11 years ago. Beyond the discussion about the financing model of the autonomous communities, there have been other moments of special tension. Above all, when Azcón recalled a photograph of Alegría next to Francisco Salazar, the former general secretary of Institutional Coordination of the PSOE who was reported for sexual harassment, after she asked him to respect her. “You did not show respect when you ate with that sexual harasser, Mr. Salazar,” he said, to which Alegría responded by assuring that he had already given explanations on the subject and called him a “hooligan” and a “palmero.”
Public services
Pilar Alegría, who already faced Azcón in 2019 for the mayor of Zaragoza – she won the elections, but failed to be mayor – has attacked the Azcón Government for prioritizing the privatization of public services such as healthcare and increasing waiting lists. You have cited two cases of two users. One that had taken a month to get a doctor’s appointment. And another who, with a lump in her breast, took two months between two biopsies. “The difference of two months is that they remove a lump or that they directly have to remove your breast, that is the reality,” he said, and then criticized that they are making up for the lack of doctors in the public system with others in the private service “who charge five times more.”
Azcón has denied the major. He has defended the largest volume of resources allocated to healthcare in two years (500 million) and has pointed out that when the PSOE governed, waiting lists reached 40 days: “there are 1,700 more healthcare workers, we have reduced the equipment lists by 27%.” And he has made a promise. “I am committed to hiring all family physicians who want to come to our community.”
The acting president has been more triumphant when he has taken stock of the economic situation and the attraction of investments. Aragón has managed to attract investments for a gigafactory in Almussafes and various data centers. He has compared the 10,000 million investments achieved in two terms of the PSOE with the 75,000 million achieved “in 30 months” by his Executive. The former minister reminded him that many of these projects would not have come about without European funds.
