President Sanchez proposes new depopulation plans for Spain’s rural areas

In a meeting held with members of the Soria and Teruel community groups the acting president, Pedro Sanchez outlined plans to combat the depopulation of rural areas.

The community groups, bearing the names of the municipalities they represent, along with members of the “Empty Spain” campaign sat down with the president to express their concerns and to discuss possible solutions to the rapidly decreasing populations in rural communities.

Sanchez suggested that the decentralisation of corporations could be the answer, but in order to do so, drastic measures would need to be put into place to make this viable.

Rural communities would need to receive improvements on communication platforms, public transport and commercial infrastructure to increase opportunities for both younger residents as well as larger companies.

Communities are urging for the “territorial rebalancing and cohesion policies, the execution of pending infrastructure, the provision of telecommunications, the boost to economic activity, the provision of housing and services and the empowerment and change of image from rural areas” according to a Soria Ya spokesman.

They also insisted that the measures are “ambitious, real and lasting” and that the president avoids going down the “the government of the day” situation. Although no concrete measures were put into place, the meeting was hailed a success by all parties involved.