Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government, referred to the day that took place yesterday in Navalmoral de la Mata as a great day for the present and for the future of Extremadura and Spain.
The laying of the first stone of the lithium battery manufacturing gigafactory promoted by the AESC company helped Sánchez move back to Extremadura. He was already at the official presentation of the project, almost two years ago, and in February 2024 he met with Lai Zhang, top leader of the Japanese multinational. "In my opinion, this project is the best example of the best policy: one that creates industry, quality jobs and provides opportunities to a territory," Sánchez said, predicting that this facility will serve to attract more companies in the sector to Extremadura. and to transform the region.
He did not remain at the regional level, the President of the Government also referred to the need for reindustrialization that Europe has and gave as an example projects such as the one that will be installed in Navalmoral de la Marta: «This is a victory against the industrial decline of Spain and Europe," he said at the closing of an event that brought together a large representation of the Extremaduran business community and politicians from both spectrums of the parliamentary arc. Among them, members of the regional government, such as Guillermo Santamaría or Mercedes Vaquera; the presidents of the two councils, Miguel Ángel Morales and Miguel Ángel Gallardo; PP deputies, such as José Ángel Sánchez Juliá; but also advisors of the previous socialist Executive, such as Guillermo Fernández Vara, Olga García or Rafael España; the Government delegate in the region, José Luis Quintana; former president José Antonio Monago or the president of the Assembly, Blanca Martín.
Caution
María Guardiola, president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, was more restrained in her speech. Of course he celebrated the step forward that the project takes with its first stone, but he pointed out that "there is no greater joy than visiting finite projects."
He did reaffirm his Executive's commitment to AESC and assured that: "We have not stopped working and we have made the entire dual Vocational Training system and employment services available to the company."
In this sense, Guardiola proposed that Extremadura become a benchmark for the green and sustainable economy as the objective of his Government, at the same time that he demanded fair regional financing for Extremadura, the extension of activity for the Almaraz plant and the improvement of railway connections.
A line to which Enrique Hueso, mayor of Navalmoral de la Mata, joined: "We dream that the new industry comes to add and not replace and that the gigafactory coexists with the Almaraz nuclear power plant and with tobacco agriculture," he explained. after thanking AESC for its commitment to Extremadura.
In the round tables that took place before the official speeches, the lithium transformation chain and the job opportunities that this entails for the region were discussed. Thus, the participating businessmen highlighted the importance for Extremadura of welcoming from the first step, the mining extraction and first transformation of lithium, to the manufacturing of batteries, once the AESC plant in Navalmoral de la Mata comes into operation.
An industry is seen by the Extremaduran business community as an engine of industrialization that will directly affect the entire auxiliary industry. Miguel Ángel Leal, president of CL Grupo Industrial (Cristian Lay), gave as an example one of the projects that his company is developing to produce ethylene carbonate necessary for lithium batteries. "We hope to be making this product in two years," explained this businessman.
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