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The announcement, by Valencia mayoress
Rita Barberá, that the city council is to name its
own Commissioner for the America's Cup has fuelled
speculation that a new political row is about to
erupt, between the administrations of the Generalitat
and the city council, on the one hand, and central
Government on the other.
Barberá made the announcement at a press conference
to present the municipality's 2006 budgets.
The meeting was attended by central Government's
own Commissioner for the America's Cup, Ricard Pérez
Casado, but not by Ramón Martínez Fraile, Secretary
General of Tourism, which caused Barbará to express
surprise, pointing out that "After all, it is Fraile
who will have to oversee the spending of the €2
million that the Government intends to spend on
promotion."
No decision has yet been taken on possible candidates
for the newly created role of Valencia City America's
Cup Commissioner, but Barberá did say that the appointee
was unlikely to be someone from the existing local
government team.
She added that she had informed the Minister of
Public Administrations, Jordi Seville, of the decision
to create the post, in a "short and amiable" telephone
conversation.
Barberá also said that the Partnership Valencia
2007, which had been scheduled to meet in October
and approve the 2006 budget, would now meet before
the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Generalitat councillor and America's
Cup Commissioner, Esteban González Pons, has reiterated
comments he made earlier that the Government should
have made contact with the Generalitat and the City
council of Valencia, before announcing €2 million
funding to promote the America's Cup internationally.
"It is not our intention to start a political war
with the Government, with the America's Cup in the
middle", he said. "We are going to maintain an attitude
of collaboration and go forward."
Pons, who has already created two organisations
to publicise the competition said that the Government's
€2 million was not to be compared with the 16 that
his department had set aside for the same purpose.
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