Spanish government says No Way to La Línea 'congestion charge'

SPAIN/GIBRALTAR (Agencies / Photo: EuropaSur) The Minister for Development and Public Works, José Blanco, (PSOE) told the Chamber of Deputies yesterday that 'under no circumstances' would the Government consent to La Línea Mayor Alejandro Sánchez's plans for a 'congestion charge'. Blanco accuses Sánchez of 'steamrolling rights'. "The Government will guarantee the free circulation of people and merchandise," he told Congress at a control session yesterday. He said the PP’s “silence and complicity with those who break the law” amounted to a “two-faced discourse and hypocrisy” and asked Sánchez's party (PP) to sanction him. Failure to do so would signal the PP’s acceptance of what he described as “an outrage”. If in government, the PP would set up tolls all over the country, said Blanco. The PP’s response was swift and, tellingly, came not from La Línea but from its regional heavyweight and long-time Gibraltar antagonist, the Algeciras-based MP José Ignacio Landaluce, according to the Gibraltar Chronicle.> Sr Landaluce accused the minister of delivering “a pathetic speech” that avoided difficult questions about the problems faced by municipalities in the Campo de Gibraltar.

He said most of those problems arose “only and exclusively” because of the PSOE government’s lack of investment in the Campo.

To illustrate his point, Sr Landaluce referred to longstanding infrastructure projects that have yet to come to fruition, including a dedicated rail freight link to Algeciras, Spain’s largest port. The PP politician also reminded the parliament that Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos had promised to visit La Linea before the end of September but, with just one week to the end of the month, this had yet to materialise.