Despite having a thousand open fronts -from the fiscal battle between the autonomies to the resignation of the president of RTVE or the persistence of the blockade for the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary-, in the Government they have not lost sight of the intervention of the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, this Tuesday in the general policy debate that is being held in the Parlament. In Moncloa, awaiting a more detailed analysis of all the proposals that Aragonès has launched today, they focus on what in their opinion is most important: the "renunciation of the unilateral path" by the president of the Generalitat , according to the "commitment" signed at the last meeting of the dialogue table between the two governments held last July in Madrid.
Despite everything, in Moncloa they are not willing to open the door to a law or a "clarity agreement" to organize a referendum in Catalonia, in the manner of Quebec in 1995, according to the proposal that Aragonès has put forward today in the Parliament. "The Government is not in that," they settle. They show more disposition in the central Executive to the possibility of reopening the project to reform the crime of sedition in the Penal Code, which would imply a reduction in their sentences, if there really is a majority in Congress that supports this initiative, before the next negotiation with ERC of the general State budget project for 2023.
“The framework in which the Government moves in its relations with the Generalitat is the dialogue table, where we continue to advance in the interest of normalization”, warned the Government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, this Tuesday at the end of the meeting of the Minister council. A dialogue table in which nothing has been discussed regarding any clarity agreement to promote a self-determination referendum that the central Executive categorically rejects. "They maintain their claims of maximums, which are not shared by the Government at all," the spokesperson reiterated.
“Moving forward means normalizing and recovering priorities”, Isabel Rodríguez has insisted. And in this sense, the spokeswoman for the Executive has highlighted that Aragonès has today presented a social plan of measures in the face of the inflationary crisis. "Today, more than ever, citizens need political leaders who dedicate ourselves to important things, to things to eat," she demanded. The path of dialogue opened with the Generalitat, she has insisted, "is bearing fruit." A few days before the anniversary of the independence referendum on 1-O, Isabel Rodríguez has highlighted that "the reality today in Catalonia is very different from that of 2017 and that is cause for congratulations".
The spokeswoman for the Executive has shown greater willingness to reopen the debate on the reform of the crime of sedition for which several of the leaders of 1-O were convicted, given the claim expressed by the ERC to face a new budget negotiation with the Government. “Spain could standardize the definition of this criminal type in our country to the countries around us. To adapt this criminal type, majorities must be formed, it is an important modification because it is an organic law. Therefore, if we achieve these majorities, this modification can be explored”, admitted Isabel Rodríguez. Until now, the message conveyed by the Government was that it was very willing to lower the crime of sedition, but that it did not have a parliamentary majority to address it. The struggle between the PSOE and the PP before the new electoral cycle would invite the Executive to leave this reform in the air, but perhaps the ERC's demands to approve a new State budget project can reactivate it.
