One of the problems of María Jesús Montero since her election as a socialist candidate for the Presidency of the Junta de Andalucía is that her main efforts have been aimed at defending the management of the Government of Spain instead of proposing an alternative project to that of Juanma Moreno in Andalusia. As former first vice president, former Minister of Finance and deputy general secretary of the Federal PSOE, she cannot deny her management as Pedro Sánchez’s most loyal collaborator since 2018, but she has not left room to admit errors or simply qualify positions that have clearly been detrimental to Andalusia.
The last debate on Canal Sur Television will go down in history because Montero described the death of two civil guards in Huelva while they were chasing a drug boat as a “work accident.” The error was also a way of “covering” the responsibility of the Government of Spain. First, due to the lack of resources suffered by the State Security Forces and Bodies; second, due to the political insensitivity on the part of the Minister of the Interior, who did not attend the agents’ funeral on Saturday. It is an example of how Montero has always put the defense of the Government of Spain before proposing an autonomous project of the PSOE in the region, without this forcing him to deny everything done since 2018 by the Sánchez Executive of which he was a part.
There are more examples of this attitude that has weighed down Montero in recent months. That of regional financing, designed by her to suit Catalonia, assuming the demands of ERC, is another obvious example. But there is more. During the same debate, the socialist candidate lied to defend, once again, the management of the Government of Spain. He did so, in this case, to ensure that all of Andalusia’s requests regarding the expansion of electrical connection facilities had been met. «Red Eléctrica, all the investments and all the needs that your Government requested, were granted, Mr. Moreno. “But you hide the lack of management of the Andalusian Government in a confrontation with the Government of Spain in an alleged insult to Andalusia.”.
The reality is different on a complex but transcendental issue for the economic future of the region. In fact, in January of this year, the Andalusian Government demanded that the central government incorporate 102 actions that represent an additional investment of 365 million euros, which brings the new electrical infrastructure requested by the Andalusian Government to 823 million so as not to limit or slow down the development and growth of Andalusia in the coming years. These 365 million are additional to the investment proposal in new planning actions of the Ministry, which only represents 458 million. The allegations presented responded to the electrical needs of companies, industries and energy promoters because state planning only addresses 23% of the actions requested by the Andalusian Government, allocating only 11.8% of the total investment for Spain to Andalusia, well below what would correspond to it based on objective criteria of population, surface area or electricity consumption. Montero, once again, put the position of the Government of Spain before the needs of Andalusia.
Keys
►The Government of Andalusia has identified 119 projects that require new infrastructure not contemplated in the current planning draft to be viable and that total 14,500 MW (or 14.5 GW).
►The distributors have also received a request for 19 support positions necessary to cover demand projects.
►The Ministry of Industry has required the State to include 102 additional actions to those contemplated by the Ministry.
► Andalusia demands 16 new lines, the repowering of six axles, 12 substations and the installation of three transformers.