OPINION | Itziar Doval, PSPV councilor for Social Welfare, Equality, Children and Adolescents, and Health Prevention of Calp
Decree-Law 12/2025, of July 22, was recently published by the Consell (Consell), establishing the legal framework for cooperation between the Generalitat (Generalitat) and the municipalities of the Valencian Community for the construction and expansion of healthcare centers. After reading it, it reminds us strongly of the Edificant Plan. Let us recall the ordeal that the Edificant Plan—"Plan Fracasat" or "Enganyant," as they called it—referred to María José Catalá and Carlos Mazón.
The PP's new HEALTH DECREE appears to be the eighth wonder of municipal health planning. Of course, with one small difference: only for large towns. And curiously, most of them are governed by the PP.
Don't the children of Chella, Beneixama, or Almoines need to go to the doctor? Is healthcare a luxury in small towns? No, of course not. The thing is, in small towns, there are too many Socialist mayors, too many Compromís councilors, too many wayward independents. And of course, we're not going to give these people the tools, lest they get things done and still look good.
Now, it turns out that delegating is a good thing. It took the Valencian People's Party (PP) barely a year to realize that delegating is fine, but only a little. Let's not democratize this power thing too much, and with nuances, of course. 20.000 inhabitants is a magic number that excludes the vast majority of Valencia's 542 municipalities. There are barely thirty. And who governs most of them? A prize for the perceptive reader.
The Edificant Plan reached 235 municipalities. Large, medium-sized, and small. Governed by the PP, the PSOE, Compromís, and independents. The smallest town could dream of a new school. Now, with the PP's HEALTH DECREE, small towns can continue dreaming, but with their dilapidated clinic.
The People's Party harshly criticized the "poor implementation" of the Edificant Plan. "Only 23% implemented," they roared. And how much of their wonderful HEALTH DECREE have they implemented? Oh, that's right, it's just been born. Give them eight years and we'll talk.
The Edificant Plan was based on a basic democratic principle: equal territorial opportunities. A child from a town of 500 inhabitants had the same right to a decent school as one from the city of Valencia. The PP's health decree is based on another principle: that of the funnel. Wide for my people, narrow for the others.
The Valencian right has discovered the benefits of municipal cooperation, but only for a select group. "Yes to delegation, but only if the mayor is one of us or, at least, from a municipality large enough to be of political interest to us."
The saddest part of all this is that, in the end, the ones who bear the brunt of these political pettinesses are the citizens. The residents of small towns will continue to have outdated clinics because they don't meet the population threshold. Public healthcare has become a weapon, a tool of punishment or reward depending on the municipality's political affiliation.
Now that they have the upper hand, they're the ones who decide and adjudicate. It's the old "you step aside so I can step in" policy, but on steroids. Because it's not just about changing the adversary's policies, but also about applying the same ones you criticized, but with the audacity to limit them to your political community. It's "do as I say, but not as I do" elevated to government policy.
And meanwhile, in some town with fewer than 20.000 inhabitants, a mayor—of any political party—looks at his outdated health center and wonders why his municipality doesn't deserve the same opportunity as Burriana, Santa Pola, Torrent, Orihuela Costa, or Mislata? The answer is simple and devastating: because in the political funnel of the Valencian People's Party (PP), your town is on the narrow side.
