“It’s over pushing and demanding.” The leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, has responded to the pressure that in his opinion the Government of the Generalitat has been exerting on his group in recent days to agree on the budgets of the Generalitat for this year as soon as possible. This pressure, with the leak to the media of the degree of compliance and execution of the measures agreed in the 2023 accounts with the PSC, has made Illa remember again that some of the issues that monopolized the negotiation a year ago are still pending – the B-40 between Terrassa and Sabadell, and the Hard Rock mainly – for which he has demanded that President Pere Aragonès dedicate “a tenth of the rush to fulfill what we agreed in 2023; he will see how we go fast.”
At the closing of a new work day, in Lleida, with the Catalan socialists preparing the congress that will re-elect Illa as first secretary of the PSC and will approve the party’s new political roadmap for the next four years, the leader of The opposition has once again assured that its party has “the will for there to be budgets”, but has criticized “the latest statements” of the Government in this regard, showing that the Aragonès Executive “is in a hurry to approve them”. “Us too,” he has resolved, but has once again reaffirmed that his party will not negotiate or approve the new accounts without the terms agreed in the 2023 budgets having been met.
In addition to the more than 280 measures agreed upon between the Government and the PSC, the budget pact included an addendum on infrastructure that contains specific commitments regarding the El Prat airport, the Ronda Nord of the B-40 and the Hard Rock. Of the three, the only commitment executed in the agreed terms is the one referring to the airport, but there is still the signing of the agreement between the Government and the Generalitat for the execution of the Vallesana road and to approve the Urban Master Plan of the leisure complex between Salou and Vila-seca.
The socialists insist on complying with the agreement or, failing that, that the Government explain the reasons why it cannot or does not want to comply. And although both parties maintain regular contacts, at least two meetings per week, to discuss the 2024 accounts, the state of these commitments blocks the possibility of reissuing the budget pact.
The Government’s latest move, making public a few days ago that 70% of the measures agreed upon last year with the PSC have already been implemented, did not sit well with the socialists. Illa’s party let the Catalan Executive know that this measure of pressure does not favor the agreement, but Illa’s public statement, evidencing her anger, came this Saturday.
The leader of the PSC has demanded “seriousness” from the Government “Are you in a hurry? Me too, but I ask for a tenth of a hurry to comply with what we agreed in 2023, you will see how fast we go,” he responded to Aragonès. The socialist has reproached the Catalan Executive for “pressing and demanding” and has asked the president to “demand himself” and “fulfill what he agreed to and signed” because “his credibility as president and the credibility of the Generalitat as an institution are at stake.” , has warned.
Illa has also referred to the serious drought situation that Catalonia is experiencing. Faced with this situation, as a consequence of 10 years in which the Government “has done nothing” in this regard, it has opted to help and collaborate with the Catalan Executive by providing concrete proposals, but has sent a warning message to those who want to “confront sectors ”economic due to the different restrictions that they will have to face as a consequence of the lack of water.
In clear reference to parties such as the Commons, which loudly demand more severe restrictions on tourism, Illa has rejected the “degrowth” they propose. “There is a risk of making another mistake, such as fining city councils, which is decreasing. Since there is a drought, we stopped the economy, and some say: tourists are out, others put their finger on the agri-food sector. Well no sir”, he replied. According to Illa, “all sectors have to adapt, but we don’t have water because we haven’t done things well (…). Entering into this dynamic, confronting sectors as some want to do, is a bad path.” For the leader of the PSC, this position means “starting from a wrong diagnosis and does not solve problems but rather makes them worse.”
Illa has demanded that the Government act coherently regarding drought, with proportionality, and not apply the same pattern of restrictions to the entire industrial and productive fabric of the country. In this sense, he recalled that during the Covid pandemic, action was taken in a variable manner, identifying some essential industries. “Maybe we have to do reasoning like this,” he proposed.
In any case, he has asked the Governor to “let himself be helped more” and to prepare for the worst scenario, that is, that it does not rain in the coming months. In this matter, he has endorsed Junts’ proposal to hold a meeting with the parties on the drought in which to combine the measures to be taken.
