That “it would be very difficult for me not to support them” by Salvador Illa and Pere Aragonès’ request to the commons to “not sacrifice” the budgets for the Hard Rock were two signs last week that an agreement was being forged between the Government and the PSC for the accounts of 2024. Now it is more than a symptom: the Catalan Executive and the Catalan Socialists finalize the pact that would mean a 6.3% increase in spending – 2,400 million more – compared to previous budgets.
With the signature, still waiting to be made official, the Republicans and the PSC would repeat the alliance that allowed, together with the commons, for the 2023 numbers to go ahead. The difference lies in two factors: for the upcoming budgets, the PSC is the first to agree with the Government; in addition, the pact of the accounts still in force was announced further in advance. This time they would be approved much later and it is the commons who keep the endorsement in the air, conditional on the demise of the tourist and recreational center Hard Rock, projected in Tarragona. Aragonès is not satisfied with the PSC. It would require at least the abstention of another parliamentary group.
For the new budgets, the Government and the PSC have maintained a much more discreet negotiation than last year, without noise and keeping in mind the commitment of mutual support that Pedro Sánchez and Pere Aragonès acquired during the talks for the re-election of the socialist leader as president of the Spanish Government. This mutual support inevitably goes through the Catalan and State budgets, but the PSC has insisted on demanding the fulfillment of matters already agreed upon around the 2023 accounts and which it considered basic: the improvement by road of the connection between Terrassa and Sabadell via the B-40, the commission for the “transformation” – in terms contained in the written agreement – of El Prat airport and promoting the Hard Rock leisure complex, between Vila-seca and Salou.
Apart from this, the Catalan Executive wanted to demonstrate that there were no major impediments to reaching an agreement, which is why it reported on February 5 that, in strictly budgetary terms, it had fulfilled more than 70% of the commitments adopted with PSC.
The negotiation about this year’s matches has not caused debate. The socialists set an affordable framework based on three axes: education, in which they set the goal of increasing investment to approach 6% of GDP; housing, in which they demand comprehensive actions in the neighborhoods in collaboration with the Councils, and security, in which the PSC asked “to strengthen the courts”.
But the support of the commons will be lacking. Jéssica Albiach’s group is the protagonist this time, unlike last year, when it agreed with the Government to support the accounts long before the PSC and the Socialists received all the spotlight.
To give their votes, the commons have drawn a red line, the Hard Rock, and demand the Catalan Executive to “definitely rule out” the construction of the tourist complex, in other words, not to approve the urban master plan that has been in place for years which is under review. They fear that this procedure will soon be derailed by the demands of the PSC and are head-on against it. To justify their position, they refer to the drought and to endorse a productive model that strengthens tourism in Catalonia.
Marrying the conditions of the PSC and the commons will not be easy. The socialists question whether the commons have the true will to facilitate the Government’s budgets for the fourth time a few months before the Catalan elections.
“Whoever governs should not be afraid of the PSC or Salvador Illa”, claim the commons, who ask the ERC not to have one and “face the internal contradictions”, in addition to reminding that the Government and the ERC take on the project reluctantly .
