He president now extinct Carlos Mazón has passed one year and five days since the greatest catastrophe that the Valencian people remember occurred: 229 fatalities and a string of material damages that have yet to be reconstructed. The debate on emergency management remains open after the resignation of Mazón and the new statements by journalist Vilaplana. With opposing positions between the regional government, the opposition and professional groups, the Valencian Community faces the challenge of strengthening its capacity to respond to future disasters while trying to rebuild the affected areas. However, several controversies began even before October 29, 2024.
One of the most controversial decisions made by the Mazón government before October 29, but which would have special importance on DANA day, was the suppression of the Valencian Emergency Unit (EUV). This body had been created in February 2023 by the previous socialist Executive, with Ximo Puig at the head. The main objective was to strengthen the reaction capacity and efficiency in emergency situations, in coordination with the Valencian Agency for Security and Emergency Response (AVSRE). The project contemplated intervention in cases of serious risk, catastrophes or public needs, as well as collaboration with other autonomous communities and state agencies.
Before reaching one year of life, the coalition between the Popular Party and Vox eliminated the UVE as one of the first measures it undertook after the elections of July 13, 2023, when Carlos Mazón became president of the Generalitat. This action of the Consell was carried out through emergency because, according to the then Minister of Justice and Interior, “it was just another fictitious organization, with zero more firefighters, zero more material resources and zero efficiency.” Elisa María Núñez (Vox) held the portfolio until July 2024, three months before DANA. When announcing the disappearance of the UVE, Núñez stated that this was beginning “to correct the errors and excesses, in short, the strategic projects without evaluation and adaptation to a serious and rigorous budgetary framework.”
Criticism, both from the opposition and professionals, did not take long to arrive after October 29. Elisabeth Duval, Secretary of Communication of Sumar, expressed on the social networkPublic life saves lives and to dismantle it is to put them at risk,” while socialist deputy Luisa Sanz stressed: “What you vote for matters. The lives of many people depend on it,” the newspaper reported. The Country.
However, the debate about the usefulness and necessity of the EUV did not only confront political parties. Professional associations, such as the Platform of Firefighters and Firefighters of the Valencian Country, also expressed their rejection of the project from its origin. According to Valencia Plaza, this group described the unit as a “whim” and warned that its creation would mean “an increase in lack of coordination between services due to the duplicity created without any technical or operational need.” From the Generalitat, it was insisted that emergency coordination was already assumed by 112 and that it was not up to the autonomous administration to invade state powers, for which there is the Military Emergency Unit (UME) at the national level.
The unions and representatives of the fire services presented allegations to the draft decree, denouncing the lack of consensus and the absence of a technical study to endorse the initiative. The platform defended, instead, the creation of a Single Corps of Firefighters, consensual and under direct public management, which integrated provincial consortia, city councils and forest firefighters.
In response to criticism, the Generalitat has defended that, under the Mazón administration, the forest fire service has been reinforced, a commitment to modernize material resources has been acquired and collaboration with the councils and the State security forces and bodies has been intensified.
The breakup of the far-right party with Mazón’s PP in the Generalitat Valenciana came abruptly three months before the catastrophe, on July 11, 2024, and without completing the year of the coalition legislature. The decision came from above, when Santiago Abascal urged to break up all the regional governments in which his party shared power with the Popular Party. The reason? Alberto Núñez Feijóo accepted the agreement of the central government on the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors between the autonomous communities to alleviate migratory pressure in the Canary Islands.
For his part, the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, expressed his intention to continue governing alone until yesterday, November 3, 2025, when he presented his resignation. The departure of Vox from the Valencian executive materialized immediately: the Popular Party published the dismissals of the councilors just an hour after the announcement. Vicente Barrera, vice president of the Generalitat (Vox), maintained his dissenting position until the end of a meeting that lasted three hours, one more than expected. Despite his resistance, the until then first vice president of the Generalitat chose to abide by the directive of the national leadership and left the Consell.
The Justice and Interior portfolio, in the hands of Vox until three months before DANA, went to Salomé Pradas, until now Minister of the Environment. Pradas stated on July 12, 2024 that he was “happy” for the “gift” that, he assured, the then-president had given him. president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, with his new position. At that time, he announced that he would work for “modern justice and Effective emergencies”.
Another of the controversies that preceded DANA was the public spending adjustment plan announced by the Valencian government. In this, social spending was prioritized and what the Consell considered “superfluous spending” was cut, in addition to lowering taxes on the richest and most exempt Iberdrola from paying the 14 million ecotax for the management of the Cofrentes nuclear power plant, according to how it was published eldiario.es.
This occurred in a context of economic prosperity and after Carlos Mazón declared to the digital media that the lack of approval of the extraordinary Autonomous Liquidity Fund by the central Government forced the Generalitat to adopt these measures to “be able to continue paying on reasonable terms.” He already former president He assured: “We are not going to have Valencians have worse social rights than others.”
