Added to the Catalangate and Pegasus case and the freezing of the dialogue table is now the lack of investment in Catalonia by the State to worsen the already battered relationship between Moncloa and the Generalitat. The actual investment in Madrid in 2021 was 2,086 million euros 8 (184.3% of the budget), almost triple the funds allocated to the Catalan autonomous community, estimated at 740 million (35.7% of planned). These numbers represent a considerable offense for Catalonia. This is how the Government judges it, which today at a press conference after the ordinary meeting of the Consell Executiu this morning has affirmed that the data that has been released is a clear sign "of contempt for the Catalans."
They are data extracted from a report of the General Intervention of the State Administration, which depends on the Ministry of Finance. Faced with these numbers, the Government spokeswoman, Patrícia Plaja, has stated that she "gets tired of having to claim what simply corresponds to the Catalans." “Nothing exceptional is being asked for, just that the citizens of Catalonia be treated the same as those of the rest of the State”, she stated.
Relations are tense, they are at a minimum and worse than ever in all the time that Pedro Sánchez has presided. The meeting that the socialist leader promised almost a month ago in Barcelona to Pere Aragonès remains undated. But the Government is not going to break the deck. Plaja has assured that the Catalan Cabinet maintains the commitment to remain in those necessary spaces that allow it to "watch over the interests" of Catalan citizens.
This lack of investment is not new. According to figures from the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, the investment executed in Catalonia in 2021 is the lowest since 2016 and it has been repeated for years that what has been executed is considerably below budget. That it also occurs this last year with a coalition government between the PSOE and United We Can is especially serious for the Generalitat. Plaja has opined that "because history repeats itself it is still surprising" and has accused Moncloa and the State of "abandoning the Catalans" and of systematically acting "not against, but not to improve living conditions" .
“Confidence is null”, the spokeswoman stressed. But even so, the Government has asked for explanations through a formal request to the Government of Pedro Sánchez. At different levels: from a request for clarifications to the president of the State-Generalitat Bilateral Commission and Minister of Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, through the president of the Infrastructure Commission and Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, to the Government delegate in Catalonia, Maria Eugenia Gay Rosell. “There are names and surnames responsible for the fact that the resources that were planned are not arriving,” Plaja considered.
