The foreign delegations of the Generalitat have once again given something to talk about in recent days as a result of the budget negotiation. The Socialists, a probable partner of the Government to validate the 2023 accounts, claimed in their specifications not to open any new ones throughout this year and to evaluate those that are already working. Junts, another of the actors in the fray, in turn, accuses the Republicans of "paralyzing the planned actions" and warns that if the foreign policy of the Catalan Executive is not to open more offices abroad, it is difficult for them to validate the accounts.
In Palau they still hope to close the square of the circle and be able to agree with both actors in addition to the common ones -there are no incompatibilities, they affirm-, and in all this matter they have limited themselves to pointing out that today the creation of new delegations, although it is not ruled out either... They stress that foreign action is "unavoidable and essential" and that their priority objective is to consolidate those that were already launched last year, as explained by the Minister of Foreign Action, Meritxell Serret, in Parliamentary commission at the beginning of its mandate. Of the six delegations that were announced last year, none operated, sources consulted point out.
The creation of the delegations is done by decree, but that does not imply that the next day they are operating at full capacity. You have to appoint a delegate, obtain a legal identification in the foreign country, find a venue and hire staff. The delegates, with a term of four years that can be extended, are now chosen in a public contest –except in Brussels, an office of a more political nature because it is the headquarters of the European Union–, and in the Department of Foreign Action they point out that in Korea of the South, Senegal and South Africa, for example, there is a delegate already elected but the other steps have not been finalized. The same is true of the Argentine delegation, which must cover the southern cone of Latin America and whose creation was approved in 2020, with Alfred Bosch at the head of the Ministry. In the cases of Brazil, Japan and Andorra there is not even a delegate chosen, although in the principality it is where the process is more advanced. Therefore, of the 20 delegations that the Generalitat should have, only 13 are open.
In a similar situation are some of the offices –with a lower rank than delegation– that were announced for Ljubljana (Slovenia), Dublin (Ireland), Quebec and Ottawa (Canada). Those of Ottawa and Ljubljana were created by resolution, but there is nothing else. And something similar happens with the figure of the special envoy, for conjunctural situations, which was announced last year for Edinburgh (due to a possible Scottish independence referendum). On the other hand, the one in Warsaw (because Poland has welcomed many Ukrainian refugees) was named. "That is why we are talking about consolidating the current map before opening new delegations," say sources from the Department of Foreign Affairs. "Last year none were opened, consolidating means opening them for real," they add.
The former minister of Acció Exterior i Govern Obert, Victòria Alsina, from JxCat, said on Wednesday that she planned to open six new delegations this year and that the opening of four had even been budgeted for: China, Israel, India and a fourth that would cover Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.
However, in the Department they assure that despite the planned budget increase of 1.5 million, it is not feasible for them to open for real. "Another thing would be to do it by decree and that's it, as was done last year," the sources consulted point out, detailing that only preliminary and internal procedures were carried out with the Israeli delegation. In addition, the Government right now does not see these delegations as a priority for various reasons. "The delegations have to be very justified," they conclude in the Department.
