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The Valencia regional government will regain "full control" over the use of Alicante's Ciudad de la Luz from July 1 after the European Commission lifted a sanction on the complex where big-budget Hollywood films such as The Impossible have been shot.

 

The Generalitat has repeatedly requested the removal of the restrictions that prevented the development of economic activities at Ciudad de la Luz until June 2027, including movie-making activities, and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition has finally agreed.

 

Valencia's President, Ximo Puig, described the decision as "extraordinarily important" because "for the last 10 years commercial negotiations at the financially-crippled complex have been prohibited". Most recently, the facility has been used as a vaccination centre and as a makeshift camp for Ukrainian refugees.

 

Puig stressed that the steps taken by the government "have made it possible to shorten the sanctions imposed by the European Union by five years, due to State aid that was granted, and to recover full control of Ciudad de la Luz after seven years of negotiation and intense work".

 

The lengthy bid for control was supported by the Society of Thematic Projects of the Valencian Community, the MEP Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero and the Permanent Representation of Spain in the European Union.

 

A press conference was held to announce the move on Tuesday March 15, during which the president recalled that the expropriation of 2.6 million square metres of land on which the studios were built was carried out in 1998; the Supreme Court ruling nullifying the expropriations took place in 2011; and the decision to paralyse the economic activity for 15 years was made in 2012 following solvency problems.

 

The government has invested more than 470 million euros in the Ciudad de la Luz; 188 million euros for its construction, 166 million for the financing of losses; and the remainder in compensations following the High Court of Justice ruling.

 

A strategic plan is now being drawn up to "return to film activity", and the government plans to seek European aid for future projects.

 

"Several companies have shown interest in the studios and work is continuing to persuade the Euronews news channel to set up an office in Ciudad de la Luz.

 

"We intend to make the most of the studios to get the best possible social return, prioritising the audiovisual industry but without ruling out other uses, whilst generating employment and economic activity and future for the benefit of Alicante and the whole of the Valencia region," added Puig.

 

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Image: GVA