There are not many newspapers that can celebrate its 150 years. ‘Levante-The Valencian Mercantile’ he is one of them, although his life – like that of Spain – has been eventful. Born as a progressive newspaper, after the civil war it became ‘Levante’ and ended up in Movement press. The story changes in 1984 when the group Iberian Press acquires it -in the process of privatization of the state media- and shortly after ‘Levante-The Valencian Mercantile’ is the header.
Now there has been a great exhibition of the covers of the newspaper in all its times and on Monday the 150th anniversary was celebrated in an act with more than 1,500 guests that showed the strength of the newspaper, its convening power and its ability to structure the territory. Levante-El Mercantil Valenciano, like many regional press, has a more transversal character and less ideologized than the Madrid press.
Many personalities attended the event, from Ximo Puig, President of the Generalitat, to Carlos Mazon, PP candidate in the next autonomic elections, and the president of the Corts Valencianas, Enrique Morera. Xavier Moll, President of Prensa Ibérica, which as a whole today leads the sale of newspapers, underlined the already long involvement in Valencian society and the firm will to reflect its social plurality.
One of the awards went to CaixaForum Valencia, fruit of the will of Isidre Faine and Ximo Puig and inserted in a building of the City of Arts and Sciences that opened last June and has already received 450,000 visitors. But that of technological innovation, which was going to Volkswagen (VW) for the investment in the Sagunto battery factory, was postponed because no agreement yet between the Government and the multinational on the amount of aid in the Perte of the electric vehicle. The investment of VW (battery factory and electrification of those in Martorell and Landaben) is 7,000 million, which reaches 10,000 with the associated companies.
Perte’s maximum investment (15%) would be 1,500 million and VW aspires to a minimum of 700, which last Monday was only 160 and has now risen to 400. Spain is the second European country producing automobiles, but we don’t have any own brand and the delay in this Perte is difficult to understand. There are conditions from Brussels and the Government must be scrupulous in its subsidies, but Spain cannot miss the boat in a sector that accounts for 11% of GDP and generates many jobs. The slowness of the bureaucracy is exasperating because it would be absurd not to make good use of the European regeneration plan that has assigned us 140,000 million.
Ximo Puig admits concern, but he believes that everything will end well and is willing to pitch in with help from the Community. But Perte also affects Catalonia (4,000 million for Martorell) and Navarra (another 4,000 for Landaben). Beware, Aragonese! And it is not admissible that at this point only 877 million of the 2,250 planned for this Perte have been granted. There was a party in Valencia, but also concern about the future of large future investments that could get stuck.
Let’s go to politics. The results of the Community in the regional elections in May will be relevant. The left has been governing for eight years with the so-called “Botanical Pact” between PSOE, Compromís and Podemos. It is not an easy pact, but it has worked quite a bit because the weight of Podemos (8 seats) is not only much lower than that of the PSOE (27) but also that of Compromís (17). And the ‘feeling’ between the PSOE and Compromís -more without Mónica Oltra- is good. In addition, the Compromís candidate will be the deputy Joan Baldovi, who comes from the Bloc, one of the members of Compromís with strength among the merchants of many towns.
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The President of the Cortes, Enric Morera (Compromís) does not feel any change in the regional ones despite the rise of the PP in the national ones. Puig is confident and the latest survey (precisely from ‘Levante’) again gives the Botanist a majority. But, just in case, it has launched its own program and proposes a reduction in the regional section of personal income tax for incomes of less than 60,000 euros when the PSOE only proposes it up to 20,000.
Does Puig bet more on the middle class or do you think that Sánchez harms him?