Por Redaccion The head of the Executive has presided over the swearing-in ceremony of the advisors for Science, Industry, and Employment, Borja Sánchez, and for Mobility, Environment, and Emergency Management, Alejandro Calvo, following the redistribution of competencies «to make the best Asturias a reality.»
The President of the Principality, Adrián Barbón, has today defended «useful politics to make the best Asturias a reality.» This guiding principle leads his government, «which always faces problems head-on, overcomes them, and builds a better society,» he emphasized during the swearing-in ceremony of the two advisors who are taking on new responsibilities following the redistribution announced last week.
Borja Sánchez is incorporating industrial policies related to innovation and technology into his department, «a guarantee of the community’s economic future,» and is now the advisor for Science, Industry, and Employment. On the other hand, Alejandro Calvo is taking on responsibilities related to sanitation, supply, and air quality, leading the portfolio of Mobility, Environment, and Emergency Management.
This reshuffle reduces the number of ministries from eleven to ten, following the resignation of Belarmina Díaz as advisor for Ecological Transition, Industry, and Commerce, a voluntary decision to clear the investigation of the Blue Solving case. «The Government of Asturias will continue to work fully to achieve the goals of investigation, truth, and justice,» Barbón guaranteed.
This was his full intervention:
INTERVENTION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PRINCIPALITY OF ASTURIAS, ADRIÁN BARBÓN
Swearing-in of the advisors for Science, Industry, and Employment and for Mobility, Environment, and Emergency Management
Politics is not comfortable. It often becomes tough and complicated, even for those of us who are passionate about it. However, even the most difficult moments have a good justification: good politics, useful politics, helps others. It faces problems head-on, overcomes them, and builds a better society. In our case, a better Asturias.
In recent weeks, I have often remembered that this is the true reason for my public commitment and also for the progressive unity government that I preside over. This is the shared will of all the advisors who are part of the Government of Asturias.
Belarmina Díaz, Mini, your resignation also responds to that same vocation of service. I repeat the words you chose to make your decision public: «I will not be an obstacle to the investigation, to knowing the truth, or to achieving justice.»
Thank you for your generosity, advisor; thank you for your dedication and work. You can be sure that the Government of Asturias will continue to work fully to achieve the goals you have set in the Blue Solving case: investigation, truth, and justice. All effort and all means for light and justice to prevail, with no concessions to frivolity or demagogy. That is my commitment to Asturian society.
We will always stand on the side of truth, without evasion. And also on the side of respect and dignity. Earlier, I stated that good politics aims to be useful. I add that good politics can never be built on falsehood, deliberate confusion, or the indignity of using others’ pain for personal gain.
This is a golden rule for my entire government, an unwritten but unbreakable rule. Mini’s attitude has shown the immense abyss between one way of understanding politics and another.
Borja Sánchez and Alejandro Calvo, you have just taken on your new roles. It is true that you are veterans, that you have experience and knowledge. Additionally, both of you share a good disposition, you are rational and calm individuals, inclined to dialogue and agreement. Your merits are well established.
However, I have to be honest. I will not make it easy for you. Precisely because of the breadth and importance of your responsibilities, I am obliged to be very demanding.
Borja, as the head of Science, Industry –Industry, I repeat– and Employment, you will have to continue the path started in 2019 when we decided to place the bet on science and innovation at the forefront of political action. I mention the date because in just six years, the change has been spectacular. The multiplication of R&D centers, from two to 16; the best funding in the history of the University of Oviedo; the birth of the Sekuens agency; the promising Science Law; or the consolidation of the defense sector are all linked to your management. If science, technology, and innovation characterize the new Asturian business landscape, it is largely thanks to your drive.
Science, innovation, and technology are the guarantee of Asturias’ economic future. It is impossible to think of an industry that does not rely on these foundations. Today, with your new responsibility, industry is even more linked to modernization, to the forefront, to the challenges posed by ecological transition and digitalization. That is the best way, the most direct and effective way, to strengthen our industrial heart.
I am going to ask a lot of you. Furthermore, I am going to ask you when you are overcoming a delicate personal situation, which speaks volumes about your dedication and strength of spirit. I summarize it in two ideas.
Because I have known you since childhood, because I know of your immense capacity, I am convinced that you will make the most of the institutional architecture created for attracting investments and consolidating Asturias as a land of opportunities.
The second is more than an idea, it is a mandate: move heaven and earth, do everything you need to do, and always with the utmost transparency, to prevent the Blue Solving case from happening again. Never, ever again.
Alejandro, you are now taking on the Ministry of Mobility, Environment, and Emergency Management. You remember like no one else the 29th of November 2023, the day the Pajares variant was inaugurated, a milestone and symbol of hyperconnected Asturias. As if we were leaping through time, in just a few years, we have left behind the centuries-old complexity of being an isolated community to rightfully boast about the success of high-speed rail, the best flight offerings from the airport, or leading sustainable mobility in Spain with the success that is called the CONNECT card, enjoyed by almost 30% of Asturians. You and your team can affirm that thanks to your management, there is a before and after in Asturian communications.
As it is for the Logistics Activities Zone, the Zalia, finally unblocked and awaiting the finalization of business settlements. We are indeed at a new stage. Likewise, we are on the verge of opening a new era in air and water management. Plans for quality, sanitation, and supply – which are actually infrastructures – allow us to speak of an autonomous community prepared to ensure environmental quality and resource sufficiency even in prolonged periods of drought.
I am referring to the effects of global warming. The care of natural resources has been an emblem of Asturias for decades. It will continue to be so, but now it is time to apply a comprehensive vision and be prepared to face any contingency, from fires to floods or water shortages that may result from climate change. Unifying these responsibilities makes perfect sense. As you can see, Alejandro, you will also face a real challenge.
In reality, none of you, advisors, will have it easy. A government that leads the decade of change, a government that champions truth and justice, that is willing to overcome resistances to make the best Asturias a reality, will always set the highest and most demanding goals.
Let’s cross them together so that Asturias wins, time is of the essence.
FUENTE