In the absence of a global agreement on the budgets in Catalonia, the Government is showing signs of wanting to put it on track with PSC and En Comú Podem, and to relegate Junts from the possible entente. Several announcements made to date are in this line. On the one hand, the agreements advanced by the leader of the commons, Jéssica Albiach, this Thursday, which would have tied several socioeconomic measures charged to the new accounts, and which are added to the agreement of the Third Sector Table to revalue the Index of Sufficiency Income of Catalonia (IRSC).
Among the measures carried out with the purple formation, Albiach has highlighted in RNE that the Government would commit to extending the discount on public transport in Catalonia during the next year. This agreement requires the involvement of the central government, since the measure, in force until December 31, is co-financed by the State and the Generalitat. The central government already announced in October, when it presented the preliminary draft of the general State budget, that it will extend this bonus throughout 2023 throughout Spain, at a cost of 700 million euros, so what Albiach’s announcement does is adapt the forecast of the Executive of Pedro Sánchez to the Catalan territory.
In the case of Catalonia, the extension of the public transport bonus over the next year would cost approximately 200 million euros which, as up to now, would be 30% borne by the State and 20% by the Generalitat and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (ATM).
But in addition, Albiach has explained that he would also have already achieved the commitment of the ERC Executive to extend free public transport throughout the Catalan community to those under 16 years of age. This measure was already implemented for users in Barcelona through the T-16 transport ticket, at a cost of around 20 million euros, and its extension to the entire Catalan territory would hardly mean one million more euros. Thirdly, the commons have also announced that the Government will expand the range of users of the T-Jove title, from 25 to 30 years old, which would cost about 5 million euros.
The commons ensure that these are commitments already closed in the framework of the negotiations to approve the 2023 budgets, and point out that in the field of mobility there should also be room to include measures such as including as beneficiaries of free transport disabled, a minor group in Catalonia whose cost would be around 3 million euros, they calculate. But they also warn that much remains to be agreed if the Government wants to have a budget agreement closed. In this sense, they emphasize that it is in the health folder where the key to their definitive yes to the accounts is.
In addition, all these measures must have the approval of the PSC, the other potential partner with which the Government has been showing greater affinity to negotiate, especially after Junts raised the price of its support with a tax proposal that is far removed from the will of the Executive of Pere Aragonès. In principle there should be no problem for the Socialists to give their approval since they are subject to the help of the central government.
In any case, those of Salvador Illa are not pressured by the rush that the Government now seems to have to close the budget agreement this week. Socialists and common see it unfeasible. Neither of the two formations see the margin to settle an agreement that allows Aragonès to approve the draft law in a Consell Executiu at the beginning of next week.
