“Benidorm te da más campaing… but with money, which we don’t know if we have”

The VOX Benidorm municipal group has explained the reasons for its abstention concerning the Budget Amendment, intended to finance a new edition of the “Benidorm Te Da Más” program, clarifying that its position does not question the program itself or the support for local businesses, but rather the lack of certainty regarding the City Council's actual financial capacity.

The VOX spokesperson in the City Council, José Miguel San Martín, stated that “VOX is aware that these vouchers are a help to the residents and businesses of Benidorm. But when a City Council has a final Supreme Court ruling for approximately 350 million euros, and every budget amendment requires legal reports to protect the Comptroller's Office from liability, the sensible thing to do is to act with caution.”

San Martín recalled that this 1.8 million euro budget amendment “is not comparable to that of the previous extraordinary plenary session, where outstanding invoices for services already rendered were paid; here we are talking about opening new lines of spending in a very delicate economic situation.”

VOX emphasises that “if every time a budget amendment is approved, a legal report is required, it’s clear that even the City Council’s own technical staff aren’t entirely sure of the limits of its authority.”

The spokesperson added that “VOX acts as any responsible resident or business owner would: we don’t spend money we’re not sure we can spend. Others are wasting other people’s money, thinking more about the election cycle than the well-being of Benidorm’s residents.”

Finally, VOX Benidorm insisted that its group will continue to support any measure that truly benefits citizens and local businesses, but always with transparency and common sense. Because, as San Martín concludes, “at VOX, we are people of order, and that’s the difference between managing responsibly and doing so for the sake of headlines.”