The General Assemblies of Gipuzkoa have called upon the Spanish Government to “guarantee” that the actions undertaken by the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council to modernize and enhance the safety of tunnels on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) roads receive “equivalent treatment” to those of state ownership. This measure aims to secure 100% European funding for these projects.
This petition was approved on Wednesday during the plenary session of the provincial chamber, with votes from the PNV and EH Bildu groups, which together hold an absolute majority. Both parties cited European directive 2004/54/CE to support the amendment they had negotiated.
Furthermore, the Provincial Council has been urged to “work and channel all political, institutional, and administrative possibilities to increase the funding provided by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility for the updating, modernization, and safety works in tunnels.”
“"Any approach cannot be valid for achieving an objective, in this case, greater funding."
Socialist spokesperson, Alberto Albistegui, pointed out that European funds are designated “exclusively” for the State Road Network and not for those under provincial ownership. The PSE representative highlighted that Pedro Sánchez's Government “articulates financial solutions outside the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan to overcome this limitation.”
As an “example of this,” Albistegui mentioned Royal Decree 1086/2025, which approved a subsidy of 20 million euros to contribute to the financing of modernization works for the Belabieta, Gorosmendi, and Oindolar tunnels on the A-15. This issue remains a point of disagreement between PNV and PSE, who are partners in the provincial government.
