Puig says that Feijóo's project is "anti Pedro Sánchez": "What is he offering Spain?"

Show respect to the division of the left by Sumar: "On the electoral board each one decides their arguments"

Rejects "using water to confront and get votes that are useless": "It's mud"

VALENCIA, 9 Apr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The 'president' of the Generalitat and candidate for re-election for the PSPV, Ximo Puig, believes that Alberto Núñez Feijóo's PP is "an anti-Pedro Sánchez project" that does not really offer proposals to the citizens and limits itself to rejecting all the Government measures, in addition to "cornering" the regional elections as if they were a "primary" of the general ones.

In an interview with Europa Press, Puig maintains that Feijóo "is showing that he does not have a project for Spain" by opposing the pension reform or the management of European funds. "What is it offering Spain? Simply tension and conflict. Honestly, I believe that it is not the way," he asserts.

"The PP is proposing that the regional elections be a kind of primary for the generals. It is the most palpable demonstration of insolvency," he says when asked if he perceives the desire for change that the 'popular' show off to some weeks of the 28M elections.

For the socialist candidate, this drive for change "is not on the street" and will be demonstrated at the polls, since he believes that more and more citizens decide their vote at the last moment.

Until then, he insists on his argument that the regional elections cannot be a general plebiscite, rejecting the PP's idea that they can be their key to access Moncloa. "The Valencian Community is not a trophy for anyone", he reiterates.

"Many times one has the vision that the important elections are the general ones. For me the fundamental ones are the elections in which the welfare state resides, the autonomous ones," he claims, and refuses to "corner" the 28M elections as if They were "second level".

On the other hand, questioned by the differences between the parties to the left of the PSOE due to their integration into the Sumar project promoted by Vice President Yolanda Díaz, Puig defends that he is "absolutely respectful" of the decisions of all the parties, since "in the electoral board each one decides his arguments".

"I am not a commentator," he settles, and urges the formations to "look at the citizenry" and not focus the campaign on partisan debates, which in his opinion are of more interest to "interest groups" than to voters.

Regarding his relationship with the Government, Puig acknowledges the lack of will to carry out the reform of regional financing in the remaining months of the legislature, although he insists on the increase in state funds allocated to the Valencian Community that have allowed convergence in the average of social spending.

Regarding the cutting of the Tagus-Segura, appealed in court by the Generalitat Valenciana and the Alicante Provincial Council, he reiterates his commitment not to turn it into a "permanent conflict" and to seek "solutions to achieve water forever", without "giving up at all" to this transfer.

Puig insists on the need not to give up the transfer, but being aware of the water crisis due to climate change. "We have to accept it," he stresses, and is committed to "being able to take advantage of all possible resources."

"It is a position of rationality, the rest is to use the water to confront and simply get votes that are useless: it is mud", he emphasizes, to recall the PP campaign of 'Water for all' with "a lot of money invested in a proposal that brought nothing".

And it is that Puig criticizes that, when the PP governed in all the institutions, "there was no transfer or anything" and it was when less water was derived from the Tagus to the Segura. "Let's stop trivializing this issue, let's have respect for the irrigators and that they do not permanently stir up a battle that only serves to create useless tension from some places and others," he demands.

Asked about the position of the president of Castilla-La Mancha, the also socialist Emiliano García-Pge, in favor of cutting the transfer, Puig limited himself to answering: "Everyone defends what they think they should defend, I always defend it with respect ".

Regarding whether he feels disappointed by the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, he remarks that he is "substantially in agreement" with Royal Decree 35/2023, which reviews the Tagus Hydrological Plan and reduces the flows of the transfer to Segura , since "it will serve to modernize irrigation and includes an extraordinary investment to improve agricultural operations."

Of course, he acknowledges that there was a "part of disagreement" due to the inclusion in the decree of the ninth additional provision that affects the future staggered increase in ecological flows. "The only thing we asked for was that in 2025 there would be an update of the flow depending on how the investments and the state of the water masses evolve," he stresses.

In addition, Puig once again maintains that "the problem (of the transfer) is not downstream as is said, but upstream": "The problem is that the Community of Madrid does not purify, it should purify even if it is with State investments".