“We have a historic opportunity to establish majorities in Congress. The Ciudadanos alternative is no longer there and Catalonia has great power of influence.” Pere Aragonès has urged the independence movement to take advantage of the arithmetic in Congress, which only allows a sum for the new PSOE government and Sumar to demand “singular financing” or accelerate the transfer of Rodalies. But above all, and once the amnesty is approved, it is essential for the president that during this legislature the foundations for an independence referendum are laid. To this end, he has once again invited the pro-independence forces with “institutional representation” to be part of the dialogue table between the Spanish and Catalan governments. The proposal especially targets Junts.
Aragonès gave an interview to TV3 on the same day that Pedro Sánchez announced the configuration and names of his new government. The Republican hopes to meet with the socialist soon. “We will meet in the coming weeks,” stated the head of the Government, but he has warned that the meeting has to be “working” and advance all the agreements signed for the investiture.
The president of the Generalitat has indicated that he has already made the offer for JxCat to be part of the table. However, the party led by Jordi Turull and Laura Borràs, while the interview was still taking place, issued a statement denying it. The formation recalls that in fact “it was one of the reasons for the departure of the Government” in October 2022. “Junts has always considered the strategy of dialogue unproductive and has opted for bilateral negotiation and an international verification mechanism, such as the one that the PSOE has accepted,” the party has noted.
In any case, the meeting between both presidents will surely take place before any other official and public meeting at the dialogue table between the Spanish and Catalan governments. The face to face between presidents should function as an advance. Sánchez defended this Monday that his Government is formed to fight for territorial cohesion. “They will have their project and we will have ours,” Aragonès stressed, before defending that “today Catalonia is part of the Spanish State against the will of the Catalans.”
Likewise, it must be taken into account that the PSOE committed to another table with ERC, parallel to the main one, which should verify and follow the agreements made with the presence of a “person of recognized prestige.”
In any case, the president has stressed that he spoke with Sánchez when the negotiation was closing and that they exchanged messages just before the investiture. “But we will have to talk a lot, because the legislature depends on Catalonia,” he warned.
ERC and the Government - also Junts - have insisted that the duration of the Spanish legislature is at the mercy of the degree of compliance with the agreements reached with the PSOE for the investiture, and the one that now keeps the president most concerned is the amnesty , who is already walking. Aragonès does not expect any surprises during the processing of the law in Congress despite "the frontal opposition of the powers of the State and the most nationalist Spain" that will try to "boycott the application" of this norm.
Another pending folder is the transfer of Rodalies. Ester Capella, Minister of Territory, will have a new face in front of her: Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport, considered a hard wing of the PSOE. “I have not found differences between ministers proposed by the PSC and those who are not,” she stated regarding the change in this ministry, from which the Catalan Raquel Sánchez leaves for the Valladolid one.
In economic matters, Aragonès will compare Sánchez's willingness to comply with what was agreed with ERC last term: scholarships, the transfer of the Minimum Living Income (IMV), etc. A few days ago, the head of the Government also placed the collection by the Generalitat of all taxes generated in Catalonia as a workhorse for 2024. Today, during the interview, he reiterated this idea.
