The PSC is aware that one of the workhorses in this electoral campaign until March 12 will be regional financing, and in fact, they are happy that this is the case, because “this way we will not talk about other things,” in reference to independence and its derivatives, but here they face the difficult task of lowering the expectations that a proposal such as the singular financing proposed by ERC and Pere Aragonès may generate. This is a proposal that is close to the Basque concert and that the PSC does not see as anything realistic, neither due to the nature of the approach nor due to the moment in which it is put forward, in the electoral campaign.
The Catalan socialists have therefore replicated the criticism that the president launched at them this Monday regarding Salvador Illa’s refusal to support this unique financing for Catalonia. Aragonès has regretted that the PSC prefers to stay in the “coffee for all”, so the socialists have replied. “It is very good that we talk about financing because that means that we focus on what is important. But in the campaign, a proposal that involves 33 deputies, which involves leaving the common framework, is not sensible,” warned spokesperson Núria Parlon.
For the mayor of Santa Coloma, it has had an impact on the approach on which her party is based. Nothing about leaving the common regime but having better financing for Catalonia thanks to the margin that in her opinion the Statute still leaves, which allows the creation of a tax consortium between Catalonia and the State. The idea differs from the “control of the cash” that ERC seeks in the collection and management of taxes, although the socialists assure that with their idea better “and fairer” financing for Catalonia will be possible.
“We have margin,” through the Statute, “and we are the ones who are best qualified to improve financing for Catalonia,” said Parlon, who has criticized the “empty chair” policy that the ERC Government has carried out in the forums. in which the question of financing is discussed. “The Government has had resources to deploy the Statute and it has not done so. Let us not rely on financing to protect the misgovernment of these years,” he claimed.
For the PSC, leaving the common framework, as proposed by ERC, means “taking a whole series of decisions that cannot be announced in the campaign without keeping in mind the consequences that this entails.” Furthermore, “this proposal can be improved by listening to the rest of the political forces,” Parlon indicated.
The socialists will carry in their electoral program a project for the financing of the Generalitat and the city councils “that involves sitting at the tables where this is discussed” and that “is credible and effective”, although at the moment they do not give more details.
Parlon has also closed the door to negotiating a referendum, as the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, pointed out this weekend. The republican leader assured that her party is already talking about this referendum with the PSOE, something that the PSC has rejected. “We do not consider the option of a referendum. “We are committed to turning the page on one of the worst moments in Catalonia,” concluded Parlon, who insisted on the need to “put public needs and services at the center.”
