The vice president and spokesperson for the Valencian Government, Susana Camarero, appeared this Tuesday after the plenary session of the Consell and spoke on various current issues, among them, the situation of the 12 million euros donated by individuals and collected by the Generalitat Valenciana in a Banco de Sabadell account opened for this purpose to allocate them to aid for those affected by dana. As elDiario.es has advanced, the Valencian Government has not given explanations about whether these funds have already been distributed, with what criteria and about their recipients.
When asked by this media, Camarero has revealed that within the social aid package amounting to 108 million euros that the President of the Valencian Government, Carlos Mazon, announced a week ago, 3.4 million euros destined for large and vulnerable families come from these 12 million donated by citizens, while the rest come from the budgets of the Generalitat Valenciana. Mazón never commented that part of the funds for this aid came from donations.
Camarero commented that “the money in the solidarity account amounts to a total of 12,342,733 euros” and despite the lack of information that has been given in this regard, he has assured that there has been “total transparency.” According to the Consell spokesperson, “the Generalitat is sending donation certifications that can also be requested directly on the website and when the money has been completely allocated, a report will be published on the website with the destination of every last cent”, therefore, “absolute transparency”, she insisted.
The first vice president also explained that “it is an aid for which the Valencian Community, this Generalitat and the entire community are very grateful, which allows us to help the recovery, the reconstruction, both the monetary donations and the material aid that we have been receiving and that has arrived incessantly from this money” and added: “A part of them have already been assigned to social aid approved last week after thinking a lot about where the aid could go. money. It was decided that a part would go to the social aid approved last week, the aid destined for families, in this case 3.8 million euros (they later clarified that it is 3.4) will go to these social aids that were budgeted in my department in this case and that thanks to this aid has allowed the aid to be expanded so that it reaches more people and the rest, up to 12.3 million euros, will be applied to future aid. “We are working on social initiatives, which are part of the aid recognized and included in the Endavant plan and which will be activated in the following weeks, among others, for example, for supplies for vulnerable people.”
Specifically, new social aid has been approved for foster families (1,052,000 euros), for large and single-parent families (2,832,000 euros) and for families with minors with disabilities (752,000 euros), which adds up to a total of 4.6 million, of which 3.4 come from donations.
Regarding the initial idea of allocating these funds to the economic reactivation of small businesses, Camarero commented that “the money allocated to SMEs, businesses and the self-employed has far exceeded the figure for social aid and therefore, after thinking about where it could be most useful, it has been decided that it should go to families.”
The Minister of Social Services has also been certain that “all those people who have contributed one euro, two euros, 20 euros or 100 euros, whatever each of them has contributed and that each of the amounts of this solidarity aid is reflected, as I say, on the website and that the certifications of the donations are also clearly stated, anyone who has contributed a single euro to help those affected will agree that they go to the families.”
Furthermore, he detailed that this is “direct aid aimed at large families, single-parent families, families with children with disabilities, families who have sons or daughters up for adoption” to which 1,000 euros will be paid without the need to do any paperwork.
As for whether this type of aid should come from the Generalitat’s own budgets, Camarero explained that “so far all the aid has come from the Generalitat’s budgets” and has taken the opportunity to throw a dart at the central Government: “I want to remember again, as we have done many times, that it is from the Generalitat’s budgets because the Sánchez Government has given zero non-refundable aid for the aid and therefore it comes from the budgets of the Generalitat. Generalitat, but there is a part of this donation, of this solidarity account that has been decided to go directly to the accounts of those families that have suffered damage, that have been affected by the dana and that I am convinced that they will receive it with all the gratitude to the families that have donated them.
The origin of donations
At the beginning of November, the Generalitat Valenciana decided to open a current account at Banco Sabadell under its ownership so that the enormous wave of solidarity throughout Spain could be transformed into money for those affected, collected in a public treasury account.
As announced through official channels, it was about opening “a solidarity account aimed at supporting those affected by the damage that has hit the Valencian Community. Through this initiative, citizens, entities and companies will be able to make donations that will be used entirely to assist the affected people and contribute to repairing the damage suffered.” It did not clarify anything else, neither when, nor how much, nor how, nor who would distribute that money or with what criteria.
One year later, the amount collected is 12,317,471.70 euros –The last update available is September 8–, most of which was donated in the first months of the tragedy. According to the list that elDiario.es has obtained through a question to the Transparency Portal, there are everything from small income of 5 euros the first day the account was opened to 20,000 euros that someone deposited suddenly on November 4.
Source: www.eldiario.es
