The motivation for not applying the Government's energy-saving measures package in a homogeneous manner was not due to the nocturnality with which it was approved on Monday after a Council of Ministers that ended after 8:00 p.m. But to the confusion and bewilderment of the affected sectors that, by extension, have caused discordant positions between local and regional administrations with a disparate alignment, both for and against, and without any common front by acronym.
Thus, the first community to anticipate its intention to breach the measures that, among others, advocate adjusting the thermostats of buildings that provide services to the public to a maximum of 19 degrees for heating and a minimum of 27 degrees for air conditioning , was the one from Madrid. Its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP), confirmed on Monday that "Madrid is not turning off" arguing that the application of the measure would generate "insecurity and scare away tourism and consumption."
The popular leader has decided, once again, to frame their dispute as a political and not a technical confrontation. And, hours later, his spokesman, Enrique Ossorio, who announced the willingness of the Puerta del Sol Executive to bring his rebellion to justice as he had serious doubts about its constitutionality.
Quite the opposite happened in the Valencian community where its president, Ximo Puig (PSOE), promised to act responsibly to comply with regulations that, in some sections, are already in force as a result of his own savings plan. The Consell already puts two degrees less heating than what the Government says, while, at the local level, the Valencia City Council will not wait for the BOE to turn off its monuments at 10:00 p.m. as recommended by the decree law.
Knowing these first two assessments, and given the national fondness for bloc politics, it was to be expected that Ayuso's outright rejection would be seamlessly reinforced by the Popular Party as a whole. Or that the defense of the decreed measures would be a common denominator both in the PSOE and in all the forces that facilitated the investiture pact of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. But it was not like that.
Genoa said he understood Ayuso's "rebound" although the general coordinator of the PP, Elías Bendodo, did not want to support the rebellion of his party partner yesterday. The rest of the communities governed by the Popular Party agreed in criticizing Sánchez for not agreeing on the measures, but he modulated very different messages. The Murcian Executive led by Fernando López Miras has advanced that they are going to study all the legal possibilities offered by the decree to study its application or not.
However, in the case of Andalusia, the Government of Juanma Moreno has admitted that "the rule is the rule" and "an appeal does not exempt compliance."
The Xunta Galicia criticized that Moncloa was focusing on "more on aesthetic measures than on real measures", while asking for "collaboration" from all the communities. While the Junta de Castilla y León, where the PP governs in coalition with Vox -a denial party- has not yet made a public statement on the matter.
Focusing on Madrid and Murcia, and not on Andalusia or Galicia, the spokesman for the PSOE in the Congress of Deputies, Patxi López, on Wednesday called on the president of the PP, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, "to put order, once and for all ", in his party warning that not complying with the measures of the Energy Savings Plan would be "committing a crime" for which he would have to answer to the courts for it.
About whom López has not referred is Abel Caballero. The mayor of Vigo promised to reduce the Christmas lighting for this 2022 by one hour as a saving measure but also confirmed, in the middle of August, that the Vigo City Council will not only install 11 million LED lights throughout the city, but will also extend the assembly lighting to 40 streets more than those included last year. "From New York you will see Vigo's Christmas star," he presumed.
With no time to reformulate López's warning after what was announced by Caballero, the Basque Government (PNV) has confirmed that it will also disregard Sánchez's plan, ruling out imposing blackouts and temperature limits, trusting its proposal to the voluntary collective "commitment" for the thermal control without ordering the Ertzaintza to carry out measurements and controls of thermometers in the establishments.
In Catalonia, meanwhile, the Generalitat has ruled out that it will enter into any formal dispute or "competence war" with the Government but, through the mouth of the president, Pere Aragonés (ERC), has questioned whether it trivializes the problem with proposals that are not very effective in reference to dress codes and the use of ties that, for the time being, are still in force in the Catalan Administration.
From Cantabria, its president not only supported the package of measures but also framed it in a "necessary" paradigm shift. Miguel Ángel Revilla (PRC) believes that the Spanish population must "tighten their belts" and prepare to reduce energy consumption. "Until now, society has lived with a mindset of not saving, believing that energy was absolutely infinite (...) and now that hard times are coming, it would be a great success if a 10% saving could be achieved."
The position of the socialist Francina Armengol is situated along the same lines. The buildings of the Lonja de Palma and the Consolat de Mar, the seat of the presidency of the Balearic Islands, will turn off their decorative lights at night "immediately". The regional president understands that we must "be aware of the reality we have." "We live in a moment of great difficulty" she highlighted before recalling that "these are demands that Europe is making of Spain".
Less applied has been the Vice President and Counselor for the Presidency, Equality, Civil Service and Interior of the Government of Navarra, Javier Remírez (PSN), noting that the Provincial Executive is analyzing the decree to "see its implementation" in the Community statutory.
In Asturias, the Principality will design and implement energy saving measures throughout the regional government that accompany those implemented by the Government of Spain.
