FEDERACION ESPAÑOLA DE MUNICIPIOS Y PROVINCIAS

The FEMP raised a complaint with the Competition Tribunal by the action of electric supply procurement in the municipalities


The FEMP raise a complaint with the Court of Competition and the National Energy Commission (CNE) by the practices of power companies in the process of electricity supply contracts with municipalities, after the entry into force of the new regulation of this sector. This is one of the resolutions adopted today by the Executive Committee of the Federation, at the request of the Finance Commission and Local Finance, aware of the situation they are facing some municipalities, especially smaller ones.




The general government and local councils, in particular, have serious problems, according to the FEMP, due to the inability of many municipalities, to contract power under new conditions, in the absence of offers from marketers and, in some cases , for the mandatory conditions that they require to attend the bidding.
 
The councils are obliged to go to the free market by having a contracted capacity above 10 kilowatts, and to do so by the call for public tenders. In late December, the Government extended the deadline until December 31, 2011 for the session may renew their contracts, but the problems persist, as has happened to the City Council Frailes (Jaén) which has been obliged to declare the proceedings for lack of bidders, after making the appropriate call.
 
CNAL
Another of the resolutions adopted by the Executive is to ask the Government that the next meeting of the National Commission for Local Administration (CNAL) fixing the deficit ratio below which the councils are not obliged to submit a financial business plan.
 
Amendments to the Draft Law of Sustainable Economy
 
The FEMP Executive Committee has been informed of the content of proposed amendments to the parliamentary groups in relation to Senate Bill Sustainable Economy.
 
These include a proposal to improve technique to define more clearly the compensation of public services: the concepts of rate, price or any other age.
 
Another change is the request referred to delete the text of Article 36 providing for retention payments on account of a local entity when it has not submitted their budgets to the General State Administration. The FEMP requests that this matter be discussed in the negotiation within the local finance reform, or at least this decision is taken on the report of the National Commission for Local Administration (CNAL), after studying each case.
 
The FEMP does not dispute the obligation of the Local Government to refer the settlement of their budgets to the General State Administration, but warns that there does not seem appropriate that a body such as the CNAL dialogue, the automatic stop mechanism operates without report thereof.
 
Agreements with architects and quantity surveyors
 
The President of the FEMP, Pedro Castro, has also reported the decision by the Executive to terminate, by mutual agreement with stakeholders, bilateral agreements signed by the FEMP and the Councils of the Colleges of Architects and Architects technical, which led to the initiation of disciplinary proceedings by the National Commission on Competition.
 
Universal Accesibidad
 
FEMP has developed a proposal for Universal Accessibility Municipal Plan for Municipalities have a model with which to undertake the transformation of the city, based on the concept of Universal Design, with environments, itineraries and services fully accessible to all people especially those with disabilities.
 
The actions are aimed at removing barriers to common use spaces such as streets, squares, parks, public buildings, cultural facilities, administrative centers, health, educational, "elements of the transport chain, vehicles and mobile stops , stations, "public communication systems, especially those having to do with the technical resources of services to citizens and the municipal website, and generally, all other public services.
 
Participatory Budgeting
 
Another document approved by the Executive of the FEMP has been a guide for teams of government councils to facilitate the active and direct participation of citizens in the process of drafting their budgets. It is a tool to deepen participatory democracy and facilitate the implementation of this process in those municipalities that have not started this way of participation.
 
Conventions
 
The FEMP sign a collaboration agreement with Spanish Red Cross to work together to promote social inclusion, prevent risk and promote peaceful coexistence in the local environment. This collaboration is carried out through basic municipal services and local Red Cross meetings.
 
The Executive has also given its approval to the contents of another agreement with the Association REDTEL for the deployment of the infrastructure of mobile networks, in particular, to provide continuity in 2011 the operation and maintenance of the Technical Assessment and Information (SATI), which depends on the FEMP.