On Monday, February 5, the Government met with the PSC and the commons in its fourth meeting to monitor the commitments made by the Executive of Pere Aragonès for the 2023 budgets. The figure is high: the Generalitat assures in its balance report that has fulfilled 70% of what was agreed with both formations in the budgetary framework. He argues that 88% is reached if measures already initiated or pending from other administrations are added.
The 2024 accounts could not go ahead, according to the socialists and En Comú Podem, without this premise. “Now it’s time to negotiate the new [budgets],” say both the PSC and the commons. The Government hopes that the numbers will be resolved soon. In fact, ERC has been stating for months that the Catalan budgets are linked to the general budgets. Some will not exist without the others. And vice versa. If this is the case, and if a hypothetical new rejection of the Amnesty law in Congress does not intervene in the plans, the Republicans consider that this year’s accounts should be approved in a few weeks.
The Government, unlike last year, does not intend to approve the accounts in the Consell Executiu until it has secured sufficient support. Only later is he willing to try to process them in the Parliament of Catalonia. In the negotiation are the PSC and the commons, but also Junts and the CUP, although the Catalan Executive sees little chance of understanding with the post-convergents. The same with the couperos.
With the PSC, the Government affirms that it has maintained a higher degree of compliance than with the common ones. The difference is minimal if fully and partially fulfilled agreements are added: 88.6% by 87.4%. Those for 2023 are numbers that were signed in March of that same year. In the penultimate follow-up meeting with those of Salvador Illa, on October 9, the Catalan Cabinet reported that it had reached only 19%.
As of December 31, 70% of the 282 measures are considered achieved, according to the Government. 28% is in progress and only 2% is pending initiation or the Aragonès Executive considers that it cannot be executed.
Regarding the commons, the figures are similar. 74% of the 132 agreed measures, 74% are fulfilled. In progress, 25%, and only 1% “cannot be carried out.”
However, the adaptation of the El Prat airport, the improvement of the B-40 in the Ronda del Vallès section and the Hard Rock Café are not contemplated in this balance. They greatly conditioned the negotiation last year between the Government and the PSC, but they were issues that were left outside the budgets.
The Government hopes that these compliances will facilitate the negotiation of the 2024 budgets, for which, according to the Republicans, only some aspects remain to be closed. On the other hand, the commons, for example, claim that they have not yet begun to address them. This has been highlighted by David Cid, spokesperson for the En Comú Podem parliamentary group. Cid has spoken of “flagrant non-compliance” with the 2023 numbers, especially in “central aspects”, such as guaranteeing care with the family doctor in less than five days. It occurs in 68% of the centers, according to what the Government has communicated to the community. Furthermore, he has once again warned that if the urban master plan for the Hard Rcok Café goes ahead, the common people will oppose the budgets.
The PSC highlights that they are still analyzing the data. “However, a first study of the report allows us to conclude that there are relevant commitments acquired by the Government that remain pending,” say PSC sources.
