| The president of the Comunidad de Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, has announced her intention to introduce tolls on some of the roads in her region, citing the M-501 and the M-45 specifically.
"We are going to have to put tolls on some of the roads in Madrid. They will be small, but we cannot pay for their maintenance alone", replied Aguirre when asked about recent cuts. "We have a lot of dual carriageways... they cost us 30 millions euros a year. We don't have any choice," she continued.
The president also revealed that she had initiated "a meeting every Friday at quarter past eight in the morning, to see where we can make cuts" and that she was already finding "some marvellous places" to save money. "I'll let you know," she said, confirming that "of course there are more cuts to come".
Aguirre went on to say that far from wanting to close hospitals, as has happened in the Balearic Islands, Madrid has opened 12 new hospitals, "but might have to put two beds into bedrooms designed to be for individual use".
Another example she gave was masters degrees: "Why should we pay for master degree qualifications for people with plenty of money," she asked, "if the Constitution only says that basic education should be free for all... and masters are not considered basic". Aguirre also asked the question: "Why are we paying for medicine for the wealthy?". |