The possible partners of the Government for the approval of the next budgets of the Generalitat are not happy with how the talks are going. The parsimonious attitude that in his opinion the Executive of Pere Aragonès has is maintained after almost a month of contact in which, as far as they are known, there have been few meetings without reaching concretions. PSC, En Comú Podem and Junts agree on this, but it was the first two who once again raised their voices to demand that the president change his attitude if he really wants to approve the accounts.
The Socialists have held at least three meetings with the government delegation to discuss the budgets and, as for at least two weeks, they insist on demanding that the other party send them precise documentation on the budgets that they intend to take to Parliament. The staging of the lack of understanding between Aragonès and the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, was seen in the control session with the president last week, where the socialist once again demanded seriousness in the negotiation given the disregard of that demand for information: "not like that," warned the opposition leader.
Little must have changed things since then, and this has led the Socialists to stand up to demand that the president and ERC "clarify if they really want to negotiate with the PSC and if they want budgets next year", because to date " We are not negotiating," they assert.
It was Friday of last week when the spokesperson for the PSC-Units parliamentary group, Alícia Romero, requested for the umpteenth time the necessary documentation to "start negotiating" the accounts, information that she had already requested by post from the Minister of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà, days before. Among this documentation, the socialists ask for budgetary data by departments, by chapters, by programs; Detailed data on trend growth, also by departments and revenue settlement forecast.
Socialist sources admit that the Government would have sent a little more information at the last minute, but not all the information required, and they admit that there is not a great distance with the Catalan Executive on crucial issues regarding the accounts, such as taxation. In fact, the socialist negotiating team, made up of Romero, Jordi Riba, Montse Mínguez, Martí Carnicer and Francesc Trillas meet this Monday to analyze the documentation. But the fact that Junts is included in the shortlist annoys the Socialists, who do not want to be in the middle of the struggle for the story between Republicans and post-convergents.
The commons also reproach the Government for a lazy attitude in the negotiation. According to spokesman Joan Mena, the Catalan government "drags its feet" to meetings, without the "political will" that would be required and with "few proposals", and this means that the talks "advance very slowly". that they have already held at least four meetings of a technical nature and that this Monday another will be held that will have mobility policies as its subject, Mena notes that "we are far from the agreement."
"We hope to see a change in attitude", he claimed, before the Aragonès Executive approves the accounts at the Consell Executiu. Ane the possibility that this approval will take place next week, in an extraordinary meeting of the Government in the middle of a festive bridge, the commons demand "advances and concretions this week" because "it would not be very responsible" to approve them without having the endorsement of In Comú Podem, he has warned.
If the Government wants to comply with the calendar it has in mind, it will have to speed up the negotiations, and that is exactly what it has proposed to do, as confirmed by the deputy general secretary and ERC spokesperson, Marta Vilalta. The leader has indicated that "the important thing is to be able to intensify the meetings and reach agreements as soon as possible", but has appealed to the responsibility of the PSC and comuns, but also of Junts, to add the "maximum support" for the accounts.
According to Vilalta, with the comuns there have been meetings and sector meetings, while with the PSC and Junts there are open negotiations with the exchange of documentation and proposals; In this sense, he has specified that the Government negotiates the formations that have shown their "predisposition" to agree - the CUP was ruled out despite the fact that the Government placed it as a priority partner together with Comuns and Junts-.
In addition, the leader has expressed the desire to reach agreements on the budgets "this week or in the next few days", but asked if approving them at the beginning of December is being considered, she has pointed out that the Government does not set a deadline for the accounts .
On whether the contacts with the PSC remove the prospect of the extension, he has reiterated that ERC's will is to reach agreements as soon as possible, but he has added that, in case of not achieving majorities, it can go to an extension: " It is more complicated and requires more effort, but it would also make the Generalitat work viable."
