"We see the light at the end of the tunnel". Vicente Boluda, president of the Valencian Business Association (AVE), said this yesterday at the event that brought together more than 1,800 businessmen in Madrid, mainly from Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia, to audit the state of the works of the Mediterranean corridor, called by the platform
The president of the AVE – an association that includes businessmen such as the president of Mercadona, Juan Roig – was referring to projects pending or in the execution phase, such as the double platform between Castellón and Valencia or the tunnel passing through the capital valenciana, fundamental to decongest traffic from north to south. "We are satisfied because the Mediterranean corridor is moving forward, but not at the speed we would like", added Boluda, accompanied by business leaders such as Josep Sánchez Llibre, president of Foment del Treball, and Antonio Garamendi, president of the CEOE.
Boluda reported that the businessmen are now waiting for the date of 2025 or 2026 to be specified "so that most of the route is finished" (date offered last year by the central government). And he acknowledged that it will be necessary to wait until 2031 or 2032 for the corridor "to go from Almeria to the south". The route of the corridor should continue to advance in the future to Algeciras.
The president of the AVE did not ignore the criticism of the central government, which he asked to "do things more quickly, but we believe that everyone is already aware of the importance of this infrastructure". It was also the message of the majority of employers, that the Central Government "accelerate the pace of execution". Sánchez Llibre, for example, emphasized that "we are playing with the competitiveness of companies, the competitiveness of workers and the health of our children and grandchildren". The president of Foment described it as "very sad" that employers have to demonstrate "due to a lack of management by the administrations" in this regard. In addition, he assured that it is thanks to the pressure of civil society and these events" that the Spanish Government is "beginning to live up to the circumstances".
The president of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón, and his counterpart from Murcia, Fernando López Miras, were more critical of the progress of the works. The Valencian rejected "the unjustifiable delay" of the work and stressed that "it is no longer tolerable but to speed up". López Miras harshly criticized that "the Mediterranean corridor has made a lot of progress in Catalonia and a little in the Valencian Community, but it seems that it has forgotten about Murcia, where it has not yet arrived". No member of the Catalan Executive attended the meeting.
The event was celebrated to coincide with the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, so it had a marked political character. Juan Roig criticized the agreements and pointed out that, "if what happens in Spain happened in Portugal, we would slow down investments". He then added that "businessmen now need tranquility and a framework of stability; a division among the Spaniards is half-achieving".
Vicente Boluda was tougher. During the speech in front of the entrepreneurs gathered at Ifema, he stated that the pact that has allowed Sánchez's investiture "leads to a destructive and divisive drift".
In this context, he asked that the agreement be "submitted to citizens throughout Spain for consultation; would be the most correct practice, because in this way the central government would know what is the opinion of the majority of citizens on the commitments that will condition the legislature". His speech was widely applauded.
Moments later, part of the audience booed the Secretary of State for Transport, David Lucas. It happened when the representative of the central government, who went there to replace minister Raquel Sánchez, congratulated the forum on the election of Pedro Sánchez as president. Some businessmen acknowledged to this newspaper discomfort for this moment. The delegate of the Central Government in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, present in Madrid, criticized Boluda's speech and the attitude of some businessmen.
