The sanctioning regime that weighed on the Government’s anti-drought decree was what prevented political consensus around the measures to be implemented in Catalonia due to the severe water shortage, but with the initiatives registered yesterday by the PSC and ERC it is clear that it will no longer be a problem
Yesterday, the two parliamentary groups registered their respective amendments to the Junts law proposal, a new rule with which they want to make a cross and a line after the failure of the water summit held in Palau and the confrontation that caused the Government decree, approved without consensus. And both the ERC and the PSC agree on the need to condition the sanctions against the town councils on the aid offered by the administration so that the municipalities fix the problems in the local water network.
In this way, ERC aims to soften the sanctioning regime proposed by the Government in its decree and paves the way for an agreement between the three major parliamentary groups. Proof of this is that the Republicans admitted yesterday that a “framework of agreement” is on track with Junts and the PSC regarding the new anti-drought rule, which they trust will be finalized before Thursday’s final vote in Parliament.
The modifications of the ERC and the PSC became known shortly after the Junts law proposal saved the first procedure – the processing by single reading – with the support of the three groups. They are almost identical changes that resolve that the entry into force of the sanctioning regime is deferred to one month after the date of publication of the subsidies” to which the municipalities can access.
In addition, ERC proposes that only municipalities that do not present a drought plan or that do not transfer their data to the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) be sanctioned, and that municipalities that exceed the permitted volumes of water, although without sanctioning them in the first place.
Together, he agrees to “accompany the municipalities” and must decide whether to accept the amendments, but the final text has the potential to constitute a political consensus as necessary as water.
