Salvador Illa observes Pere Aragonès during a session of Parliament.MASSIMILIANO MINOCRI
The lack of water is overheating the political climate in Catalonia. The management of the drought is a benchmark for relations between the parties, and given the looming restrictions on homes and industries due to the state of emergency, all arrows point to the Esquerra government. Little had been done and it was late, the opposition claims. ERC responds by redirecting the blame to the PSOE government and its subsidiary in Catalonia, the PSC, which it accuses of obstructing the development of important works to extract more water reserves, as in the case of desalination plants: “No matter how much” There.” If those who are taking advantage of the drought to wage a water war, the government will continue to work despite the obstacles that it often encounters in other formations,” denounces the Republican deputy Eugeni Villalbí. “It bothers some that the Catalan institutions are doing their homework,” Villalbí added.
Esquerra claims the Socialists “falsely” promised to cover the cost of a new desalination plant to improve drinking water supplies in Barcelona and Girona; But according to the Republicans, both the PSOE and the PSC have actually created “obstacles” that have delayed the completion of the work by nine months to a year.
The ERC management formalized this Saturday its support for Pere Aragonès as a candidate for the Catalan elections scheduled for early 2025. Doubts about the leader of the list were dispelled after strong rumors spread within the party about the departure of Oriol Junqueras. Since the Republicans have no responsibility to maintain control of the Generalitat, they are going on the attack. The first arrow is aimed at the government, which ERC accuses of delaying the expansion of the Tordera desalination plant in Blanes (Girona). This is one of the two facilities of this type that the Generalitat has planned to address the lack of rain, a phenomenon that is becoming more frequent and extreme due to the effects of climate change.
Drought has acquired the status of a weapon in Catalan politics and the Tordera desalination plant has become a battlefield. Ten days ago, Salvador Illa, first secretary of the PSC, said during a visit to the facility that the government “is not prepared for the drought because the infrastructure is inadequate.” After a party delegation inspected the same desalination plant on Friday, Esquerra attacked the Socialists, saying the government had been mandated to foot the bill for the expansion but had failed to do so. ERC accuses the PSOE of negligence after it committed to allocate 435 million euros to finance the two new desalination plants planned by the Generalitat, Tordera II and Foix, to be built between the municipalities of Cubelles (Barcelona) and Cunit (Tarragona). The Independence Party assured this Sunday that finally “not only will the government not cover its costs, but it has also doubled its technical procedures, delaying their expansion in the face of urgency”.
The expansion of the Tordera desalination plant will require quadrupling the capacity of this infrastructure, which will increase from 20 to 80 cubic hectometers per year. The Generalitat predicts that between 2027 and 2030 the two new desalination plants will be built – the Tordera plant would come before and after the Foix plant – which will help make the Barcelona metropolitan area much less dependent on the swamps (on rainwater). ).
The chairman of the PSC and leader of the opposition referred this Sunday to the confirmation of Aragonès as a candidate. “What is needed in Catalonia is not a candidate but a president,” and he called on the government to “govern.”
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Barcelona is a different league
The accusations between Esquerra and the PSC regarding a battle for the right to be the best manager for the Generalitat government are being toned down in the Barcelona City Council. Ada Colau explained this weekend that after a meeting with socialist mayor Jaume Collboni, he told her that the priority was to reach a progressive tripartite pact between the PSC, ERC and the Commons. “His primary option,” he revealed. “For the first time in seven months I can say that Mayor Collboni has said that he does not want a pact with Junts, but that he prioritizes a progressive pact, a tripartite pact with us and the ERC,” Colau explained.
The former mayor's statements come after intense negotiations between Collboni's team and the Junts group in Barcelona, led by Xavier Trias. The Collboni-Trias pact has proven to be a very real option in recent weeks, despite the setback it represented for the experienced convergent politician and election winner, who lost the mayoralty at the last moment due to the PP's support of the commons. , to Collboni. Ada Colau, always against the entry of junts into local government, defends that the left-wing three-party solution would be the best solution for the city council and that “it would allow the approval of the municipal budgets and a future project for the city to be carried out.”
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