After a brief and cordial meeting, lasting just 20 minutes, the Junts per Catalunya group yesterday described as “incomprehensible” the “delay” of the Executive of Pere Aragonès with the budgets of the Generalitat for 2024. The group sent its proposal to negotiate the Catalan accounts in what was the second meeting in which they addressed this issue, although in parallel there are ongoing negotiations between the Republicans with the PSC and the Commons that have more prospects of succeeding.
These are more than 100 measures, collected in 16 pages, that post-convergents see as “realistic” and “executable.” The most notable are the proposals related to taxation, the elimination of the inheritance tax, a point that Esquerra rejects outright. “We do not share it,” said the party spokesperson, Marta Vilalta. In addition, JxCat demands the deflation of personal income tax in all sections by 5% and a reduction in the lowest section of that tax, from the 10% that the Government wants to set to 9.5%.
Measures are also demanded regarding drought – the main problem affecting Catalonia today – with 50 million euros planned for aid to various sectors and investments of 250 million in water-related infrastructure, thinking about the future. And other issues that are more political than economic, such as the creation of an anti-occupation unit in the Mossos d'Esquadra, a demand that was already raised in 2022.
Together with Junts, their parliamentary spokesperson, Mònica Sales, and deputies Joan Canadell and Jordi Munell attended the meeting. On behalf of the Government, the general secretary of the Presidency, Núria Cuenca, the new general secretary of Economy and Finance, Josep Maria Aguirre, and the general director of interdepartmental coordination, Marc Ramentol. In the first meeting between the Executive and JxCat, which took place on December 14, the current vice-president and advisor to the presidency, Laura Vilagrà, and the head of Economy and Finance, Natália Mas, did participate on behalf of the Government.
"We confirm our concern, we are already in February and the country still does not have budgets to respond to the needs of the people," Sales lamented after the meeting. “We consider the Government's delay with the budgets incomprehensible,” he added, before outlining his proposals.
The Government points out that it has been difficult to schedule this second meeting with JxCat. In turn, those of Jordi Turull hold the Executive responsible and all this has the aroma of déjà vu... Last year there were more than 15 meetings between the two former partners of the Government, but in the end the budgets were agreed with the PSC and the commons , although the Catalan Executive indicated that the priority was the agreement with Junts. “This year we are no longer a priority,” points out a JxCat source.
Another change compared to last year is that the demands document does not include macro projects, such as the expansion of the El Prat airport, the Ronda del Vallès or the Hard Rock. At JxCat they consider that it is something that was already agreed upon in 2023 and that the Executive must comply.
