As the Valencian business sector usually does with the always claimed Mediterranean corridor, going to Madrid to seek more media coverage, the companies and institutions of Castellón traveled to the capital yesterday to present at the headquarters of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) the "Manifesto for the maintenance of the Economy of Castellón." This is a document prepared in April 2023 that "is more alive than ever" and that shows in black and white how the price of gas has skyrocketed costs and has a huge impact on the accounts, and on the day-to-day life, of the sector and from many other industries.
"We make a call, a cry for help to the Government, to make the modifications and implement the necessary measures so that Castellón continues to be one of the engines of the economy not only of the Valencian Community, but of Spain," declared Luis Martí yesterday. , president of the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV) Castellón.
When the sector speaks of "modifications" it refers mainly to aid, which has arrived "long overdue" for the sector. These, which they consider must be “direct, without unaffordable conditions, simple to process, urgent and sufficient,” are to alleviate a scenario that, they clarify, is still temporary, but that runs the risk of becoming structural.
At the moment, the sector has received about 60 million euros that began to arrive in the last week of 2023. "The aid has been late, a year late, and insufficient, it barely covers 5% of what is needed," Luis Martí said yesterday. . For months the sector, and also the Botànic Government, appealed to the then Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, so that companies could request this aid despite their late payment, a situation that prevents the regulations of the Crea y Crece Law, as well as the application of the RED Mechanism to stop the loss of unemployment. ASCER, the ceramics employers' association, had planned to meet this month with the new Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, but the meeting has not yet taken place.
The sector closed the year with drops in exports, billing, domestic sales and turnover, of up to 20% in this case, and unemployment continues to grow. In the last nine months, 1,000 jobs have disappeared and more than 10,000 people have experienced an ERTE. “At this moment, Castellón is, together with Álava, the only province that registers an unemployment rate higher than that of December 2022. And it continues with youth unemployment of 27.8%, something that will hinder the future,” said the president of CEV Castellón.
Together with the CEV and its president, Salvador Navarro, the Minister of Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Nuria Montes, the mayor of Castelló, Begoña Carrasco, and the president of the Castellón Provincial Council, Marta Barrachina, were in Madrid yesterday. "The ceramic sector is possibly the one that is suffering the most from the deindustrialization of the province and it is the Government of Spain that has to have this issue as a strategic priority," Montes declared yesterday.
Meanwhile, Compromís yesterday criticized the Valencian Executive and accused it of being slow in the "extraordinary support" for the ceramic sector that it announced in September and that it sought to double and even triple the non-refundable part in the different credit support lines of the Valencian Institute of Finance (IVF). “The Valencian government cannot sit idly by, especially when it is confirmed that the 'Express Plan' announced by the President is a failure, since it has not meant a reduction in the negative forecasts of the ceramics employers' association, which pointed to that 20 % of productivity losses before the measures taken by the current Valencian government.”
