The Minister of Justice, Local Administration and Public Function, José Antonio Nieto, has called on the Spanish Government to update the funds allocated to the Agrarian Employment Promotion Program (PFEA), which have remained «frozen» for four years due to the lack of new General State Budgets.
The Minister, in his parliamentary intervention, emphasized that the current state funding model limits the response capacity of the county councils and the Junta itself, given that Andalusia’s contribution is legally linked to the amounts set by the central government. Therefore, he called for «adapting the PFEA to the needs of the 21st century», advocating for strengthening its effectiveness through increased investment, more flexible regulations, and complementary measures in terms of professional retraining, risk prevention, and sustainability.
Nieto also detailed the improvements that have been implemented by the Junta de Andalucía to the PFEA, such as a 60% reduction in administrative procedures for fund management and allocation, thanks to the elimination of the need to sign individual agreements with the eight provincial councils. This simplification has significantly expedited the arrival of funds to local entities, reducing the time frame «from one year to five months.»
Lastly, Nieto reminded that the deadline remains open for provincial councils to request funds from the Junta to co-finance the cost of construction materials. The Junta’s contribution for this call is a total of 65,754,790.88 euros, «and we would like it to be much more,» said Nieto. The deadline to request the corresponding amounts ends on June 4th.