This is the first Valencian Day for the last 20 years in which Spanish nationalist conservative Popular Party (PP) is outside the Valencian government. PP lost the government after the May election to the Valencian Parliament, which opened the door for the formation of a left-of-centre coalition government made up of the Valencian branch of the Spanish socialists (PSPV-PSOE) and the Valencian leftist alliance Compromís. The deal allowed PSPV leader Ximo Puig to be sworn in as Valencian president.

In a statement, the Nou d'Octubre Commission called to "build a consensus in the Valencian society in order to be able torequire a new funding system" from the Spanish government. The Valencian government says it is ready to lead the task to build such a consensus.

But the Commission went one step further by saying that if those demands "are not met" by the Spanish government, Valencians will then need to "build alternatives that do not depend on the decision of the [Spanish] central government." Such alternatives, the statement says, should lead Valencians to shape a proposal for "fiscal sovereignty."

The Commission also urged Puig to re-open the Valencian public broadcaster RTVV, which was closed down by the previous PP government. The current PSPV-Compromís government has pledged to re-open RTVV, however a date has not yet been set. The Valencian government quotes economic and judicial reasons for that.

The Nou d'Octubre Commission is made up of federalist and pro-independence political parties (Compromís, Podemos, EUPV, ERPV, Els Verds, PSAN and SI), unions (CCOO, UGT and Intersindical), and civil society groups (ACPV, El Micalet, Ca Revolta and Escola Valenciana).

Puig: "Self-government just a dressing" without proper funding

Puig called for a new funding arrangement so that the Valencian self-government "be not just a dressing." But the Valencian president's proposal includes features which sets it apart from the Commission's demands. According to Puig, any changes in the funding system should be applicable "to all [Spain's] autonomous communities," introducing new criteria that ensure both the same level of health services, education and social services throughout Spain and the financial autonomy for the autonomous communities. No mention of unilateral or fiscal sovereignty, even as a distant or undefined goal.

Valencian vice-president Mónica Oltra (Compromís) further said that the funding reform proposal seeks to amend the current distribution of resources between the Spanish government and the autonomous communities. According to data quoted by Oltra, Spanish central institutions "cover 25% of the citizens' needs," but retain as much as "60% of the funding," while autonomous communities cover "75%" of the citizens' needs.

Pro-independence left calls Valencians to avoid falling into the trap of "delegating"

Meanwhile, pro-independence leftist organizations asked Valencians not to fall "into the trap of delegating" their sovereign powers, and insisted that the struggle for Valencian national liberation should be placed in the "streets," in "self-organization," and in "popular power."

Faced with such proposals for increased funding within Spain, a unitary statement by the Valencian pro-independence left (COS, Endavant, Arran Alerta Solidària and SEPC) retorted that "institutions, municipalities and regional parliaments are twice limited." On the one side, the declaration says, "by banks, big business and capitalism," and on the other, "by the state institutions (Spanish and French), by its Constitution, and by statutes [of autonomy] and their laws."

Both the pro-independence left groups and the Nou d'Octubre Commission have called Valencians to demonstrate this evening in Valencia.