The President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, has shown himself open to having a face-to-face meeting with his counterpart in the Community of Madrid about the different country models they defend after Isabel Díaz Ayuso accused last Monday from the Círculo Ecuestre of Barcelona to the Government of the Generalitat to "isolate itself and build a country with time and money", although it also predicted that the Madrid president would not want to.
In an interview on the Cafè d'Idees program on La 2 and Ràdio 4, in which he defended the continuity of the dialogue and negotiation table between the Spanish and Catalan governments and warned Pedro Sánchez not to fulfill his commitments with Catalonia will make a possible future agreement with ERC more expensive, Aragonès has responded to Ayuso that his community has two more points of unemployment than that "republican and seditious" Catalonia that they see" and has reproached him for coming to "try to provoke" while He has summoned them to look at how the health of their country is.
"If she wants to discuss the socioeconomic model, if she wants to discuss the public services model, I'm willing to debate with her and if a face-to-face is needed, I would do it, I wouldn't have any problem; I think she wouldn't want to," Aragonès said, who has recognized that "the future is not written". "Maybe we have a chance to do it here," he joked.
In another order of things, Aragonès has asked the central government "not to try to escape dialogue" and to look "more carefully at the Catalan reality" to defend the continuity of the dialogue table that from Madrid is practically closed . "The dialogue process is a commitment from Pedro Sánchez", recalled the president and issued a warning: "If you do not meet the commitments, the next agreement will be more expensive", alluding to a possible future pact between the PSOE and ERC after the general elections at the end of the year.
The Catalan president wanted to make it clear that his warning is not a threat, but he has subsequently issued another warning. "The Spanish government should not let time pass to address the conflict, Mariano Rajoy did this and nothing went well for him," recalled Aragonès, who has accused the central government of "dragging its feet" on this issue. "We do not consider this process closed," said the president who sees that the most important thing "is yet to come."
In line with this, he has asked himself "what plan does the Spanish Government have for Catalonia" on issues such as the Statute, defense of the language, fiscal deficit, budget execution, among others. "Mine is clear: to reinforce the main assets of that country and that, for me, goes through an independent State," Aragonès insisted, adding that "if someone has an alternative proposal, let them say it but nobody here has put any on table".
The President of the Generalitat has also referred to the meeting he held last week with the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, revealed by La Vanguardia and has indicated that the dialogue with the central government is "constant" and "there are many" because, in his opinion, the problems are not over. On this point, the president has considered that the advances regarding Catalonia are timid because "the PSOE fears the PP and the Spanish right and looks at Catalonia with one eye and the PP with the other".
All in all, he has recognized that the reform of the Penal Code has been a step forward but has warned of the impact and the step back that it could mean if the republican parliamentarians Josep Maria Jové and Lluís Salvadó go to jail for the interpretation made by the judges of embezzlement reformed. "The bosses have been pardoned and the subordinates go to prison, where has it been seen in a negotiation process?" In any case, the president has admitted that it is a "judicial decision" while he has pointed to "a judicial leadership that, inspired by revenge, tries to burst" the reform.
In addition, he has reproached the judges of the Supreme Court for criticizing in their proceedings on the review of sentences for those convicted by the process the laws made by Spanish deputies, which, in his opinion, "shows that these judges are not impartial because They are against the law that they must apply". "This gives us arguments to go to the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights in Luxembourg.
Aragonès also referred to the trial of the suspended president of the Parliament, Laura Borràs, seen for sentencing last Wednesday. The president has anticipated that he would personally know that Borràs would have to go to prison, although he has insisted that it is a case of corruption that has nothing to do with political repression as in the case of Jové and Salvadó.
Regarding the presidency of the Parliament, the republican leader recalled that the pact between ERC and Junts that gave this position to the post-convergents was broken by themselves, so "they must be the ones to say what they want to do" in this regard, although He has not ruled out the possibility that they continue to hold it. "The pact has been overcome but it is also important not to close doors", indicated the president who has advocated not anticipating events and waiting for the resolution of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia that "will clarify the situation".
In relation to the amendments presented by JxCat to the Generalitat's budgets, the president has accused his former partners of having a "will to generate fracture", by seeking the support of the PSC to increase the budgetary commitment with various macroprojects that also support the socialists. Regarding the amendments presented by the PSC, he has asked that all of them live up to the agreements that have been signed.
