On the day that Pedro Sánchez receives the order from the King to prove his investiture as President of the Government, in exchange for an amnesty that the candidate still refuses to pronounce, the acting President of the Government receives a new condition to achieve his efforts: the transfer of Rodalies. And this is a condition not exclusive to the pro-independence parties, but also shared with another of the indispensable actors to form a new coalition government: Sumar.
It is En Comú Podem who has also placed this transfer to Catalonia as another of the elements to make the investiture possible. This was confirmed by the spokesman for the commons parliamentary group in the Parliament, David Cid, this Tuesday: “It is a proposal that we have transferred from the commons in the negotiation and Sumar shares it.” Therefore, if Sánchez wants the support of Yolanda Díaz to achieve his investiture and forge an investiture agreement with the Catalan independence parties, he should accept a transfer that the Ministry of Transport – directed by the Catalan minister Raquel Sánchez – has actively rejected. and passively, alleging that legally it is not possible to carry out this transfer.
The demand of the commons is not new, what is new is that they place it as one of the issues to be addressed within the negotiations for Sánchez’s investiture. In fact, Sumar-En Comú Podem included this transfer in the electoral program with which it participated in the general elections of March 28. There it appears as one of the aspects for “the improvement of self-government, the shielding and growth of the competency framework.” Not so in the electoral program of the last Catalan elections. In the general program, the commons are committed to Catalonia being able to “govern itself based on a relationship with the state that is based on equality and not recentralization,” and here they gave practical examples of the transfer of powers in matters such as housing, the transfer of Rodalies, energy, the reception of people and the management of ports and airports.
The commons have been critical of the management carried out by the current Ministry of Transport and have pointed out the need for the improvement of rail transport in Catalonia to be “a priority”. But Cid has warned that only the transfer of the powers that remain to be transferred from the service – Catalunya manages the service but not the infrastructure, which is in the hands of Renfe – will not be enough, which is why he has indicated that “resources are needed.” , both by the Government and the Generalitat to put Rodalies in order.
The Rodalies issue re-emerges as a consequence of the constant incidents in the service, which have worsened in recent days. These new serious incidents have caused the ERC Government to once again raise its tone against the Government, demanding the transfer, something that the common people view favorably. Furthermore, the same parties that demand the transfer united last week in Parliament to vote in favor of a resolution proposal, approved by the Chamber, that demands this transfer.
For their part, the socialists reject this transfer and maintain that the incidents are the product of years of neglect and disinvestment by successive PP governments that the current Sánchez Government is trying to solve. The PSC and the central Executive insist on demanding that the Government sign the protocols for Renfe to continue managing the service, as well as the contracts for the purchase of new trains, which Pere Aragonès’ Executive refuses to sign.
The commons, and by extension Sumar and Yolanda Díaz, have entered a phase in which they intend to increase their support for Sánchez by committing to some of the social demands that they consider most pressing, beyond the amnesty. For this reason, the vice president assured this Monday that the agreement with the PSOE for the investiture is still far away. From Catalonia they corroborate this distance, although they assume that there will be an agreement with the socialists.
The common people see that the PSOE “goes with the handbrake on” on the social and environmental agenda, which is why they encourage them to “get their act together.” Also on the issue of dejudicialization, where they consider that “the time has come” for the socialists to “speak openly” about amnesty.
