Junts' rejection of the decrees of Pedro Sánchez's Government that must be voted on today in the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies remained unchanged yesterday. That is their position despite the latest approach from the PSOE, which nevertheless seemed confident and capable of changing the scenario during today's day. However, if this does not happen, the Executive is considering the possibility of withdrawing the legislative initiatives and approving them again in an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers so that the social measures they include are not lost. Of course, in that case they would do it separately, as JxCat demands.
In fact, the post-convergent criticism of Moncloa for including several matters in a single decree, with the adjective “Macedonian”, is not exclusive to those of Jordi Turull. For this same reason, other groups that supported Sánchez's investiture have clearly complained in recent days, such as Esquerra, PNV or EH Bildu, who consider that matters that are neither urgent nor exceptional are being regulated.
This alternative plan, however, contrasts with the optimism that was transmitted yesterday from Moncloa, which saw a “good sign” that Junts continued negotiating. “The decrees are going to be approved,” they stated in the Government, despite not yet having guaranteed the simple majority necessary to achieve the validation of the three decrees on which, among other measures, the disbursement of another 10,000 million euros of European funds, the revaluation of contributory pensions to 3.8%, free public transport for young people or the reduction of VAT for basic foods. “We have absolute confidence that the decrees will be approved, and for this we are going to work until the last minute,” they insisted yesterday in Moncloa, while speeding up the negotiation to achieve the support of Junts on the horn.
The vice president María Jesús Montero, the minister Félix Bolaños and the organization secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, are in charge of seeking an agreement in extremis with the formation of Carles Puigdemont, essential so that Sánchez's new mandate does not derail in this first legislature curve. From JxCat, in turn, they admitted last-minute contacts and Turull, general secretary of the party, was in Madrid.
The key to the agreement sought by the socialists pivots on the purpose shared by the PSOE and Junts, signed in the investiture pact, to "facilitate" the return to Catalonia of the companies that changed headquarters in 2017, although the point of The departure of the two formations does not coincide since the proposal to include sanctions for companies that have their main activity in Catalonia and do not return is not shared by Moncloa.
The Government and the leadership of the PSOE cling to the need to guarantee legal certainty to rule out sanctions on companies. “If something characterizes this Government, it is that we always give maximum legal security to our companies,” the minister spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, limited herself to saying, referring to the discretion required by contacts not to give more details. Patxi López, spokesperson in Congress, expressed himself in similar terms.
Puigdemont, for his part, warned that “the ball is not” in his party's court, with a message addressed to both the Sánchez Government and ERC and the Government of the Generalitat. “Neither carrots nor blackmail. From no one. It is not the first time we have warned about it, but it seems that the Christmas break has softened the memory of some and it must be strengthened,” said the former president. “Pressing Junts – also by the Government – will not work,” he stated.
His words came after the optimism of the Moncloa after the meeting of the Council of Ministers and that the spokesperson for the Catalan Executive, Patrícia Plaja, was dissatisfied with the post-convergent proposal for the return of companies, which she called inopportune. Plaja also refused incentives for companies that return, understanding that it is an insult and a “penalty” for those who stayed and she attributed Junts' position to “gesticulations.”
Earlier in the day, the spokesperson and vice president of JxCat, Josep Rius, had reiterated in Ser the proposal that there be tax incentives for companies that return and sanctions for those, "very few", that do not do so and have their business in Catalonia. main economic activity. All this along with other conditions such as that the VAT on olive oil is reduced to 0% and that there are more resources for Catalonia in the field of digitalization of justice.
However, there are some post-convergent voices that share the discomfort with the forms of the Government and the use of decrees to legislate, but, at the same time, they see it as unfeasible and a mistake to ask for sanctions for companies that do not return to Catalonia. Thus, they share the rejection of the employers.
In this sense, the former president of the Generalitat Artur Mas, in an interview on La 2 and Ràdio 4, or the leader of Junts in Barcelona, Xavier Trias, in statements to El Newspaper. Mas said that “you cannot punish someone for making a free decision to stay or leave” and expressed his surprise at the approach.
