Although the Socialists have given their support to the budgets of the Generalitat, the law on accompanying measures, which is being processed jointly, is a reason for friction with the ERC for the PSC, to the point that the swords are still held high in the form of eleven own amendments in the absence of eight days before the plenary session is held, on March 10, in which the Parliament must approve the public accounts for this year.
The spokesperson for the PSC-Units per Avançar group, Alícia Romero, this morning defended in the Catalan Chamber the “loyalty” to the Government regarding the budget law, which has not been subject to any amendment because it was the result of an agreement long negotiated and whose articles are already closed. But the same is not the case with the accompanying measures law, in which, according to socialist sources, ERC has tried to “sneak” some non-consensual proposals.
Romero recalled that the PSC was made aware of the content of this law “not agreed upon” by the media and, although he has highlighted his group’s willingness to agree, which has allowed the presentation of 64 joint amendments with ERC, he has indicated that There are eleven others that are cause for disagreement, although he has shown himself optimistic that between now and Friday of next week “there is room” to negotiate and some of them could withdraw.
Specifically, the main points of disagreement between PSC and ERC are the pilot program to develop universal basic income in Catalonia, which does not have a specific financial allocation in the budgets but which Executive sources have estimated at an initial item of 40 million euros, and the decision to leave the regulation of supply tariffs in the entire metropolitan area of ??Barcelona in the hands of the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (ACA).
On these two points, the PSC shows its resounding rejection of the Government’s position, which Socialist sources accuse of not negotiating with the other groups to approve their initiatives despite its manifest parliamentary minority, and for this reason the Socialists do not rule out reaching agreements with Junts so that your amendments go ahead.
Thus, tomorrow Friday, in the vote prior to the plenary session that will take place in the Economy and Finance committee, a first impression will be obtained of the scope of the possible compromise agreement between socialists and post-convergents, who have also presented their own amendment contrary to the pilot test on universal basic income.
The Socialists understand that it is an initiative for which there would not be enough money if it were universalized, since it would mean spending 55,000 million euros, and that, therefore, now, in a context of serious economic crisis and with a good part of the population with subsistence difficulties, “not one euro” should be dedicated to a pilot plan that involves allocating 800 euros per month to the winners.
In addition, these sources maintain that the Consell de Trabal, Econòmic i Social de Catalunya (CTESC) itself has recommended replacing this article of the accompanying law, because the Government does not have the capacity to make universal basic income available to the entire population. “The basic income cannot be applied in Catalonia, we do not have the resources to do it”, they indicate in the PSC, which does not understand why ERC does not reconsider this “commitment”.
Yesterday Tuesday, the ERC spokesperson, Marta Vilalta, warned the Socialists that their amendments contravened the budget pact of the Government, of ERC, with the PSC and the commons, who agreed not to present or support initiatives that would modify the content or ” spirit” of the agreement. But Romero argues that the budgets do not provide any item for universal income, so the most consistent with the “spirit” of the accounts is that the law of measures does not include any allocation for the pilot plan.
Romero also replied to the Minister of Social Rights, Carles Campuzano, who in an interview on Ràdio Estel stated that the PSC promised not to amend the plan: “He was not at the meetings and therefore I don’t know if he can say what we committed ourselves”, has sentenced the spokesperson of the PSC.
On the other hand, regarding the amendment referring to the transfer of power to set water rates to the ACA in the metropolitan area of ??Barcelona, ??Romero has defended that this provision “goes against municipal autonomy” and has trusted obtain the support of the other forces to prevent this change from going ahead.
In addition, the PSC is studying the amendment on macro-projects presented by Junts, but trusts in the fulfillment of its own agreement with the Government on the issue, and is also aware that its proposal to modify the law on the Organization of Legal Services of the Administration to deal with espionage plots such as the Pegasus case, in which it seeks to differentiate the disclosure of private life secrets from those that affect their public function, it will hardly prosper.
