The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona is marginalized from European funds
The extensive catalog of projects that can be carried out with European funds presented last year by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) has become a catalog of frustrations. When its technicians have gone to present their documents to the calls launched by the various ministries, they have found that this supra-municipal administration does not fit into the published bases. Of the 2,716 million euros that were intended to be obtained, only 142 million have been obtained so far, and most of them correspond to a proposal from the item for the rehabilitation of homes acquired by the Generalitat.
The specifications for the distribution of Next Generation funds aimed at public administrations in the vast majority of cases are proposals from city councils, provincial councils and autonomous communities, but the metropolitan administration – which is a unique case in Spain – does not fall within the defined standards. “They have marginalized us, it is a serious territorial discrimination”, regrets the manager of the AMB, Ramón Torra.
The same project has been approved or rejected depending on the administration that presented it
Said discrepancy is exemplified in the same project that has obtained financing based on the administration that presents it. The creation of blue routes that allow sports, displacement and improvement of the ecosystem from the source of the Llobregat river to its mouth has obtained funding through the Diputación de Barcelona in the section of Anoia but not in the part of Martorell towards the bottom proposal by the WBA. Nor have funds been obtained for a recovery project for Besòs or for Collserola. The Ministry of Ecological Transition has responded to the AMB that it will surely be the municipalities that would do it, although these areas have been managed for years as a consortium above the municipalities.
Something similar has happened with the second batch of funds distributed from the Ministry of Transport. At the beginning of the year they acquired 40 million to buy new electric buses and the start-up of the new metropolitan Bicing service. To the surprise of those responsible for the AMB, the new call at the end of the year is limited only to municipalities and leaves the metropolis without options. The only solution is to chop up the projects and present them from the town councils, although this is not a feasible option in all areas.
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