What was not possible at the water summit chaired by Pere Aragonès in Palau last month will very likely be possible in Parliament next week. There, a JxCat bill will be debated and approved with urgent measures to alleviate the serious drought situation that Catalonia is experiencing, a rule that aims to correct the decree of the Catalan Executive approved in February that has not achieved the necessary political consensus. Now, around the Junts initiative, the three parties agree on the most problematic point, that of the sanctioning regime for city councils that bypass the restrictions due to the drought.
Junts, ERC and PSC agree on the philosophy that the new regulation should have in this regard, which is based on not sanctioning after a date, as was proposed at the water summit and proposed by Junts and the PSC -the first to start from July 1 and the socialists from September-, but is based on sanctioning only the municipalities that do not show a collaborative attitude.
In this way, the fines for non-compliant municipalities will be conditional on the willingness they show to comply with the restrictions, and the way to reflect this will is to implement the necessary measures to avoid exceeding, for example, per capita consumption limits (230 liters as established by the Government decree), or fix any water leaks that may exist in the municipal system. To do this, the three parties agree to make available to the municipalities a line of aid of 50 million euros.
In the words of the Socialists, the solution would be to “move away from specific dates (on moratoriums on sanctions) and verify the common objective, which is to give opportunities to municipalities so that they can carry out the necessary executions.” In the words of ERC, the solution is the same: “That the accompanying measures to the municipalities can go in parallel to the sanctions.” This would mean giving them “a margin of time” to solve the problems of the supply network and “only sanctioning the municipalities that do not show any willingness” to collaborate.
The PSC spokesperson, AlÃcia Romero, has assessed the level of understanding with Junts. “They (Junts) share that we need more time. We had a meeting on Tuesday and today we have another. It is important to close an agreement before the plenary sessionâ€. And the ERC spokesperson, Marta Vilalta, has endorsed the idea: “The philosophy is not to persecute municipalities, but to save water by helping municipalities and sanctioning those who do not want to do their part of the work.”
This is the philosophy, but now it must be put on paper and agreed. For this, meetings between the different political actors are underway. ERC has already met with Junts, which in turn has held meetings with the PSC, and this Thursday, the Government and the Socialists will meet to try to bring positions closer.
At the moment, the ERC and the PSC value the “opportunity” that Junts’ proposal represents to reach an agreement on the fight against the drought in Catalonia despite the electoral context in which we already find ourselves, and both parties agree.
Despite the meeting between the Government and the PSC on Thursday, Socialists and Republicans do not cease to confront each other for the respective management of the water crisis within the scope of their responsibilities. ERC blames the central government for its way of acting with the Canar de Urgell, closed for agricultural use by decision of the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation, “without prior notice,” they say. While the Socialists have demanded that the Minister of Climate Action, Teresa Jordà , “do her job” and not go along the line of confrontation looking for those responsible and not assuming her own responsibilities.
