In the midst of negotiations for the Generalitat’s 2024 budget, the Government has appointed Josep Maria Aguirre i Font as the new Secretary General of Economy and Finance. He does so by replacing Josep Maria Villarrúbia, who has held the position since October 2022 under the command of Minister Natàlia Mas, when Pere Aragonès restructured the Catalan Executive following the march of Junts from the Palau de la Generalitat.
Tomorrow the Government will meet with the PSC, with whom it hopes to tie the budgets of the Generalitat. Aguirre will likely make his debut as secretary general at that meeting for a budget negotiation that the Catalan Cabinet, whose contacts trust will intensify “in the coming days.” This was stated by the Government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, together with the councilors Manel Balcells (Salut) and Carles Campuzano (Social Rights) after the ordinary meeting of the Executive Council this morning. “We will not venture to schedule. We are convinced that there will be expansive budgets that the country needs,” she added, although she has avoided linking them with the negotiation of the general budgets of the State, as ERC spokesperson Raquel Sans did. Aragonès recently assured that he believes that they will be approved by the Government at the end of January or at the beginning of February.
Aguirre has a doctorate in Dret from the University of Girona (UdG). Since October 2022, he served as general director of Patrimoni. He has combined his academic and scientific career with the development of other professional tasks: legal advisor at the Girona Provincial Council (2007-2011), member of the Joint State-Generalitat Transfer Commission (2009-2011), administrative lawyer (2012-2015 ) and member of the Comissió Territorial d’Urbanisme of Girona, since 2014.
For her part, as explained by the Government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, after the ordinary meeting of the Executive Council this morning, Villarrúbia will go on to reinforce the team that will study the economic part of the transfer of Rodalies.
Precisely tomorrow, at 5:30 p.m., the Minister of Territory, Ester Capella, will travel to Madrid to meet on Wednesday with the Minister of Transport and Sustainability, Óscar Puente, and on Thursday, at ten in the morning, with the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez.
The first of the appointments will be the continuation of the face-to-face meeting that Pere Aragonès and Pedro Sánchez held on December 21 at the Palau de la Generalitat, who agreed to meet to advance the transfer of Rodalies during the first quarter of this 2024. one of the investiture pacts of Sánchez as president of the Government.
Capella also hopes to close the date, as explained by Plaja, for the commission that has to debate “the modernization” of the Prat airport. “It is the Spanish Government that has to call for competition reasons,” she stated.
At the meeting with Rodríguez, Capella wants the Ministry to publish the declarations of stressed areas that were approved in August 2023, as well as the Catalan housing reference index.
