The Catalan parties that are part of the central Government, PSC and common, have come out in defense of the decrees that the Government intends to carry out in the final vote this Wednesday in Congress and on which Junts has established itself, for the moment, as against. Both parties are aware that the negotiations between the central Executive and the post-convergent parties are still underway, they have limited themselves to asking for “responsibility” from Carles Puigdemont’s party, which has it in its power to overthrow the first major measures of the Pedro Sánchez Government. the new legislature.
Both the spokesperson for the PSC, Èlia Tortolero, and the spokesperson for the commons, Joan Mena, have tried to provide arguments in favor of the parliamentary validation of the decrees, both in terms of “useful politics”, according to the Catalan socialists. , which entail, such as the protection of vulnerable families against possible evictions and the reduction of VAT and taxes on electricity and gas, among others, as well as for the final approval of the amnesty for those prosecuted by the process.
This last area is where the Junts vote is debated, as they have set their sights on article 49 bis of the Civil Procedure Law, included in Royal Decree-Law 6/2023. This article establishes that a judicial case is stopped in the event that the judge requests a preliminary ruling from the European courts. This regulation is included by community mandate as a condition for receiving the fourth package of European funds (10 billion euros), and does nothing more than regulate something that already happens in practice, according to the Government. However, Junts consider that this may put the amnesty at risk.
The common people consider that this article does nothing more than provide “legal certainty” to the amnesty law. According to the spokesperson for Catalunya en Comú, Joan Mena, “this reform does not affect the deployment and consequences that the amnesty law may have” and aims to “regularize aspects that were already being carried out”, which “is what gives legal security to the whole of a complex reform such as the amnesty law.”
For Mena, Junts’ argument to justify its refusal “can’t hold water”, so in his opinion it would be “irresponsible” to vote against decrees that include social measures to “protect the working majority of the country.” It is the same argument that the PSC has used, which has recalled the results of 23-J to show that the Catalans are, in their opinion, in favor of the Government’s measures.
Tortolero has warned that maintaining the vote against means “putting at risk” Catalans benefiting from social measures included in the decrees such as the revaluation of contributory pensions, free Rodalies, discounts on various public transport, protection of vulnerable families facing possible evictions and the reduction of VAT and taxes on electricity and gas, among others.
“It is the time for responsibility, for useful politics, for making the politics that citizens need,” said the socialist spokesperson, who did not want to go into the possible compensation that Junts could negotiate with the PSOE in exchange for their votes.
Both PSC and the commons have referred to the political situation in Catalonia, making a brief assessment of the year 2023. In it, criticism of the Government of Pere Aragonès proliferates due to the different crises it faces (drought, the educational crisis and the poor renewable energy generation). And both parties have insisted on their already known positions regarding the 2024 budgets.
The socialists insist that the Catalan Executive comply with the agreement in 2023, and have reported that this Wednesday morning they will hold a meeting with the government delegation to talk about it. Meanwhile, the PSC is still busy deciphering the documentation that the Government gave them at the last meeting, before Christmas, on the 2024 accounts, a thousand pages in Excel format with the different items that the new project would include and which are trying to figure out to make an assessment.
For their part, the commons have criticized the “passivity” of the Catalan Executive with the new accounts, considering that there is an inconsistency between the speed they demand to approve them and the attitude with which they work for it.
The purple formation has once again criticized the Government for keeping alive projects that are “essential” for the PSC to be able to negotiate budgets, such as the B-40. In this case, the central government has included in the aforementioned decrees a reform of the highway law that will allow the management tasks – necessary to sign the execution agreement – to be carried out, but the commons insist on reviling the road project : “We will continue fighting so that, even if this agreement is approved, an infrastructure that is outdated and that does not respond to the mobility model of 21st century Catalonia is not implemented,” Mena warned.
