"Day-to-day life, hospitals, housing... It is absolutely fundamental, the Government gets to work and I have called an extraordinary Government for tomorrow to make the first decisions for the development of these agreements." Pere Aragonès considers that Catalonia “is already in a new stage” after the agreements reached with the PSOE and which have allowed Sánchez to be inaugurated. The main one, the amnesty law, currently being processed in Congress. But so are, in his opinion, the transfer of Rodalies or the forgiveness of 20% of the Catalan debt from the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA). This reduction allows the Catalan Executive to stop paying 1.3 billion in interest that the president wants to use for social policies.
Aragonès has it in his mind that during 2024 Catalonia will obtain “unique financing.” He expressed it again this morning in Parliament, during the control session, despite the fact that the PSC has flatly rejected it. The idea of the head of the Government is that Catalonia collects all its taxes and manages them. Whether it is called an economic concert or a reduction in the fiscal deficit – which the Generalitat estimated for 2021 at 22,000 million euros – the president has considered that it is “absolutely a priority.” Also, immediately articulate the transfer of Rodalies, with a company of mixed ownership Generalitat-Moncloa, which implies "a clear improvement in service."
For Aragonès, Catalonia is entering a new stage in which it must “face the country's challenges”, without forgetting one of the greatest concerns today, if not the greatest: drought. Salvador Illa, first secretary of the PSC, has offered to help in this matter, although he has not spared reproaches for a management that he has considered insufficient. “Now the table that most interests Catalans is that of the drought,” stated the socialist.
However, the heated debate between ERC and Junts these last two days on the dialogue table between governments has barely appeared in the control session. Only the CUP, through Carles Riera, has made it clear that its training will not be in a space in which he affirms that self-determination will not be discussed. Aragonès preferred to dedicate his intervention time for the responses to JxCat and the CUP to insist on the start of this new stage.
Thus, the president has urged Junts and its leader in the Parliament, Albert Batet, to “play big politics” and has once again invited the post-convergents to “go hand in hand to defend the interests of Catalonia everywhere.” Batet has ignored the offer and limited himself to demanding that the head of the Government explain his decision to suspend the Rodalies monographic plenary session, which was to be held this week.
“There are no more excuses. It is a fact that the service [of Rodalies] is regrettable, you cannot continue turning your back on the Parliament. He always says that he closes big agreements, but he never comes to explain them,” the post-convergent has criticized.
Given this, Aragonès reminded Junts that the independence movement is “facing a great historic opportunity” due to the capacity for influence it has in Congress. “We have to do big politics, I will not enter into politics of miseries and reproaches and I extend my hand again,” he stressed after remembering that Junts joined the PSC to postpone the monograph on Rodalies for a month.
