In the foreground the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès (left). Behind the leader of the Socialistes – Units per Avançar group, Salvador Illa (right), during the last plenary session of Parliament.Quique García (EFE)
The opposition in Catalonia did not like President Pere Aragonès' Christmas speech. In his speech yesterday, Tuesday, the national coordinator of the Esquerra Republicana linked the call to the central government for “unique financing” for the Generalitat with the negotiation of the foundations of the independence referendum and took the opportunity to also take advantage of the good data on unemployment, the recruitment of more teachers, health workers and Mossos and the arrival of significant investments in technology. PSC, En Comú Podem and Ciudadanos agree with the criticism, albeit with nuances: they see triumphalism and inaction in the government, which, according to opposition leader Salvador Illa, the government's “permanent” excuse is trying to hide the gap in the financing model, which if it agrees, needs to be improved.
Illa preferred to wait until a press conference this Wednesday in Cervera (Lleida) to evaluate Aragonès' speech, which some of the other leaders of the groups evaluated a few minutes after it was broadcast on X, the old Twitter. “It is clear that we need good, fair and agreed funding, but it is also clear that this is being used as an excuse not to do the work we need to do,” the Catalan Socialist leader said.
The opposition leader disgraced the Republican for not sending the head of the economy, Natàlia Mas, to the meeting of the Tax and Financial Policy Council two weeks ago, which is attended by the Ministry of Finance and the sector's regional councils. This multilateral forum would debate a possible reform of the regional financing system, which has been out of date for years, but the Generalitat insists that it does not want to take part in order to give priority to the bilateral decision. Illa assured that he would not support a “divisive” movement, also referred to a request to agree on the terms of a possible referendum and called on the government to “govern”.
“The balance sheet of the last ten years does not lead to triumphant balance sheets,” Illa added, after recalling the poor results in the Pisa tests and the lack of implementation of the infrastructure planned after the 2008 drought and now before the drought What would be crucial would be a state of emergency or momentum in the implementation of renewable energies.
Although Aragonès directly asked the opposition to allow him to carry out the budget for the last year of the legislative period, Illa only mentioned the issue when asked by journalists. “If the 2023 agreements are not respected, we will not start negotiations for 2024,” assured the socialist. The outstanding list includes ensuring completion of the Hard Rock convention and casino tourism project.
The chairwoman of the lower house bench, Jéssica Albiach, made a similar statement on Tuesday evening. “President Aragonès' speech is proof that we have a government of good words and few deeds,” the lower house representative wrote on social networks. Albiach described the Republican's record as “triumphalist” and was dissatisfied with his failure to address the problems of housing and “ecological planning.”
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The latter is the front on which En Comú Podem hopes to put pressure on ERC. The votes of the Albiachers are required for the settlement, provided there is also an agreement with either the PSC or the Junts. Aragonès had prepared balances in previous bills to keep the Hard Rock project alive, but without this being reflected in items in the budget, and the Commons had accepted this formula. This time they have conditioned their support for the accounts on a clear distancing of the Catalan executive from the tourism project.
For Ciudadanos, the speech was “insignificant.” “Again amnesty, more introduction of the Catalan language, transfer of the Rodalies and secession referendum. “Power in Catalonia lives from and for the process,” wrote the party leader in the chamber, Carlos Carrizosa, on Twitter. The Orange also took the opportunity to take action against the Socialists, whom he accuses of “reviving an already dead process” with the agreements in exchange for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
There is silence in the ranks of the Junts, the former ERC partners in the government. Some MPs, such as Ramon Tremosa, made passing references to the speech, but pointed out the poor viewing figures (16.4% of viewers saw Aragonès' speech). The leader of Vox, Ignacio Garriga, wrote in
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