During the years of greatest effervescence of the procés, the Parliament of Catalonia was anything but a forum for debate and dialogue. The bitter positions of the independentistas, on one side, against the constitutionalists, on the other, caused scenes of great tension and also, why not say it, ridicule from others. Today the Catalan Chamber seems calmer and, on the other hand, where there is an atmosphere of greatest confrontation is in Congress, as we are telling you these days.
Catalonia now has a very good opportunity to convey a message of unity and responsibility in the face of the noise and division that is palpable in Madrid. At Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona en Comú government team and the PSC are about to close a budget agreement with the opposition ERC. It is not bad that the first three municipal political forces settle their accounts. If this tripartite managed to do the same with the budgets of the Generalitat, it would offer an image of consensus between the first and second parliamentary groups, something unusual in the political battle. The problem is that, for this photo to come true, the positions defended by ERC and the PSC are still very far apart today. The Republicans have already closed an agreement with the commons, but they do not have a majority to approve the budgets and they need the Socialists or their former Junts partners to add up. This last option, although it is not ruled out, seems unfeasible due to the differences in the pro-independence family. Everything suggests that it will end with a pact between Pere Aragonès and Salvador Illa.
Catalonia needs this agreement both from a practical point of view (if there is an extension, it would mean losing more than 3,000 million euros) and from a symbolic one. After years marked by a climate of confrontation, for forces on both sides of the political trench to agree to approve the Generalitat's accounts would be a very significant step towards the normalization of Catalan political life. And now, also, with the tension that exists in Madrid, it would be a good opportunity to rehabilitate. Get down to business.
