The Seville City Council, governed by the PP, will propose to the general directorate of State Heritage, dependent on the Ministry of Finance and controlled by the PSOE, a collaboration agreement with which to create a "management unit" for the maintenance and conservation of the Plaza de España. The proposal proposes closing the monumental complex created for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 and charging tourists an entrance fee.
Designed by the architect Aníbal González, the Plaza de España was built between 1914 and 1929 and was restored between 2002 and 2010. It is a large semicircular space delimited by an emblematic building that has an estuary crossed by four bridges, a central fountain and 48 banks dedicated to the Spanish provinces. The square has been the scene of concerts and films such as, among others, Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
People registered in Seville and those born in the province would be exempt from paying the entrance fee, as confirmed by municipal sources. The City Council proposes creating a tourist-cultural itinerary through the interior of the square subject to “a non-deterrent fee” that, in its opinion, “would have great acceptance and a significant capacity to generate income.”
These income would be distributed between the City Council and the State by 75% and 25%, respectively. In Plaza de España there are offices and administrative services of the State that citizens use. For them, the City Council ensures that access is guaranteed. Likewise, horse-drawn carriages will continue to be able to enter the premises, as until now.
The mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, of the PP, yesterday defended the closure of the square and the charging of an entrance fee to tourists to "finance its conservation" and "maintain a surveillance service 24 hours a day." In addition, by charging an entrance fee to visitors, the City Council wants to open a school for “permanent restoration of the Plaza de España.”
However, the spokesperson for the socialist municipal group, Antonio Muñoz, yesterday expressed his "resounding rejection" of the "permanent privatization" of the Plaza de España. In his opinion, the “most suitable solution to increase municipal resources allocated to the conservation of heritage and public services is the “implementation of the tourist tax, which José Luis Sanz opposes, and not a bolt under payment to the space. public of the Plaza de España”. The PSOE estimates that, with a tourist tax of one euro, extra funds in Seville of around six million a year would be achieved.
The socialist councilor considers that the proposal to close the area is "a new idea that Sanz launches without consulting or entrusting himself to anyone of those who are heads of the different entities of the State Administration that coexist in the Plaza de España."
The Association in Defense of Heritage (Adepa), for its part, stated yesterday that it would not be totally against the closure, according to its president, Joaquín Egea. But he recalled that the City Council already receives "enormous amounts" for the private events that have been held in the square for years, money that, according to Adepa, should be reverted to the conservation of the asset of cultural interest (BIC). Egea wondered “where does that money go, because not to the Plaza de España.”
