The Generalitat’s 2024 budget is at risk of derailment and yesterday, along with the Hard Rock macro project, it was the main protagonist of the control session with President Pere Aragonès. Most groups questioned the head of the Catalan Executive on this issue, and he, in turn, looked for partners. In this situation, after the estrangement between En Comú Podem and Esquerra became evident, Junts reached out to the Government.
Aragonès in all his interventions vindicated the goodness of the budgets already recorded after the pact with the PSC and asked them to allow him to proceed with the processing of the accounts next week.
Albert Batet, president of the JxCat group, offered his party’s support if the Executive assumes his “depaís model”, which he defined as “territorial balance, less bureaucracy and less taxes”. He made no reference to successions, but this tribute flew over the chamber. With the bill already registered in Parliament, it is complicated to change the budget items, but it is possible to amend the accompanying law and fiscal measures to introduce the elimination of this tax, JxCat reasoned.
Batet made the offer after criticizing the Republicans who have approved the general budgets of the State in recent years, despite the low execution of the central government in Catalonia and referring to the Catalan “guirigall”. “In Madrid they take his hair and in Catalonia he’s a coward”, asserted the post-convergence leader.
Aragonès picked up the glove and was ready to sit down with his former partner. “Let’s sit down, talk and come to an agreement. I am fully prepared”, he assured. In addition, he detailed that on February 22 the Government already sent JxCat a document with “74 measures that add up to hundreds of millions of euros and that mean the acceptance of 70% of its proposals”, although the post-convergents consider that this was a “partial response” and that, in any case, it is up to the Government to call them to a meeting, which would be the fourth.
Junts will not make any further moves for now, and if nothing changes, the executive of Carles Puigdemont’s party will discuss on Monday the possibility of presenting a full amendment to the budgets, as other groups have already done.
They point out to the Government that “hours and days remain” and that they, unlike JxCat and En Comú Podemos, do not have red lines. In any case, the president tried to convince the commoners and the anti-capitalists. The two groups charged Aragonès with the Hard Rock and the president threw them the hook of reversing the cuts and more investments, but neither group bit and today they refuse to vote in favor of it.
In the reply to the commons, who questioned “what public interest is there in Catalonia to have the biggest casino in Europe”, Aragonès insisted that it is not possible to reverse the Hard Rock procedure and that it is not included in the budgets. “Okay, come on, outside the Hard Rock. I don’t know how we should do it, we would have to face a heritage claim, but outside the Hard Rock. How many votes do we have for the budget?” asked the president.
A little while earlier, the Minister of Economy and Finance, had cast doubt on La 2 and Ràdio 4 that the macrocomplex will end up being built. “I would bet more, since we are talking about casinos, for the no than for the yes”, he said.
In turn, the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, reproached the commons that now the Hard Rock is an inconvenience for them, when last year it was already there and it was not an impediment. “We think more about the country than about the elections”, emphasized Illa.
