James Warren
THE municipal government of Cordoba has come under fire from rival politicians for grossly inflating the budget for their annual Christmas light show while the region battles with a deadly pandemic.
A spokesman for the Izquierda Unida party in Cordoba slammed the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos coalition leadership for setting aside €1.6 million for the fiesta.
Cordoba’s Christmas celebrations bring in tens of thousands of visitors every year, all keen to experience the Calle Foro Romano light show and the traditional Christmas markets.
However this year, uncertainty over large social gatherings and economic fragility has brought this year’s show into question.
“It is a joke and in bad taste,” explained a representative from the IU.
“There is no justification that, at a time when resources have to be made available to the public, the government allocates €1.6 million to an aesthetic and throw-away investment”.
This is not the first time that the Cordoba Christmas celebrations have come under fire before from the IU.
Last year, the left wing party criticised the event as it was understood that the enormous cost of holding the light show far outweighed the financial return for local businesses.
“We do not know how the virus will evolve or what scenario we will have in December, so it would be better to allocate that money to direct aid to small businesses throughout the city.”
The IU’s anger comes as it is estimated that around 40% of small businesses in major cities will not survive the pandemic.
Between April and June, the country’s GDP dropped by a staggering 18.5%, the largest collapse of its kind since records began in 1970.
It meant Spain officially entered a recession after registering two months of negative growth in a row.
