The Board of Directors at RTPA, on a war footing

RTPA initiates legal actions against the Government of the Principality after the suspension of transfers since July, which leads to its closure. This decision comes after the announcement made by the president of the Asturian executive, Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, to “cancel the payment of 11.3 million euros.”

The Board of Directors of the Public Radio Television Communication Entity of the Principality of Asturias (EPCPA), meeting on the afternoon of Thursday the 6th as a matter of urgency and in an extraordinary session, has unanimously decided to empower the general director of the Entity to initiate legal actions of a contentious-administrative and, where appropriate, criminal action against the Government of the Principality of Asturias that also entails the precautionary suspension of non-payment of the RTPA budget that remains to be transferred until the end of the present exercise.

This decision comes after the announcement made, at a press conference on October 4, by the President of the Executive, Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, to “cancel the payment of 11.3 million euros” of the nominal transfers with which the Asturian public entity is financed annually, approved and included in the General Budgets of Asturias for 2011. This decision, endorsed and aggravated by the statements, also at a press conference on 5 October, by the Minister of Finance and Public Sector, Ramón del Riego, leads to the paralysis of television, radio and digital newspaper activity in the coming weeks.

Del Riego was even more precise and assured that the Principality will not make any more transfers to RTPA in the remainder of 2011, which makes any payment impossible, including staff payrolls and compliance with obligations for suppliers.

In this situation, the President of the Board of Directors will deliver today, Friday, October 7, to the Secretariat of the Governing Council of the Principality of Asturias, and in the presence of a notary, a request for the EPCPA to be notified of the agreement of the Governing Council of October 4, 2011, which is known exclusively through the media, and to clarify whether said agreement entails the definitive cancellation of the credit recognized in favor of the Entity and the Companies by the Law of Budgets for 2011, authorized, ready and pending transfer only in twelfths of a month. The RTPA Council will urge the Executive to complete the transfer of the corresponding twelfth part for the month of August and carry out the pending transfer of the twelfth corresponding to the month of September.
The Board of Directors of RTPA, through a statement, has publicly denounced “the brutality of a decision of these characteristics unprecedented in democracy and show its unwavering support for the continuity of Asturian public radio and television, highlighting its status as a public service recognized by law, and send a message of tranquility, confidence and encouragement to the 668 workers who, directly or indirectly, make this public service possible every day, which is of and for all Asturian men and women. RTPA It has received numerous recognitions, both inside and outside Asturias, for its informative, cultural and identity work and has become, in its little more than five years of existence, a driving instrument for an emerging and future sector: the audiovisual sector.

The councilors of this body made up of six councilors from the PSOE, six from the PP and one from Izquierda Unida – Bloc por Asturias – Los Verdes (under the presidency of Francisco Alonso, proposed by the PSOE) have decided to inform the parliamentary groups with representation in the General Meeting of the Principality to take the necessary measures to demand from the Government, through the appropriate parliamentary channels, that the cutback plan announced by Álvarez-Cascos be submitted to parliamentary review and to initiate the corresponding debate on the model and costs of the Asturian public media.