Two of the main opposition parties, the PSC and En Comú Podem, have criticized the announcement by the Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, not to attend the next meeting of the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF), where the Government It plans to communicate to the autonomous communities the deficit ceiling that they will have for the general state budgets of 2024 and lay the first stone of the debate on the renewal of the autonomous financing system. Socialists and commoners have agreed in considering that the absence of the councilor in this forum is an "error" that abounds in the "empty chair" policy of the Executive of Pere Aragonès there "where issues that matter to Catalans are discussed."
The first to show his disagreement was the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, who in an interview in Ser Catalunya regretted the decision: "I believe that it is not good not to sit at the tables to defend one's interests, in this case, of the Generalitat of Catalonia", he said, despite the fact that, in the place of Minister Mas, the Government has sent the Secretary General of the Economy, Josep Maria Vilarrúbia, and the Director General of Budgets, Esther Pallarols.
The decision is based on the conviction that the CPFF is not, for the Government of Aragonès, a space for real debate, but merely “a meeting where information is transmitted” and where the Spanish Executive, with its sole vote, has an absolute majority. . Furthermore, by virtue of the investiture agreement with ERC, the Republicans cling to the bilateral commitment to undertake a negotiation on financing, for which the Government is committed to its own system for Catalonia.
In this regard, Illa has also expressed his disagreement, highlighting that "the PSC is in favor of having fair financing for Catalonia." "I don't want privileges for Catalonia, but I want a balanced playing field. The same for everyone," he said.
The commons have also described the absence of Natàlia Mas at the CPFF this Monday as a "mistake." "We do not believe that it is right for the Government to renounce its highest representation in a meeting where the financing reform must begin to be addressed," spokesperson Joan Mena criticized at a press conference.
If PSC and Común agree to criticize this absence, on the other hand, they maintain practically opposite positions regarding the negotiation of the new budgets of the Generalitat, as a consequence of one of the projects that has become the standard of the debate, the leisure and entertainment complex. tourism called Hard Rock, which is planned to be built next to Port Aventura (Tarragona). The socialists demand that the Government comply with what was agreed in this year's budget agreement, which includes the need to approve the Urban Master Plan (PDU) - the agreement set last July as a deadline -, while The commons flatly reject this approval if the Catalan Executive wants to count on them for the next budgets.
Mena has warned the Government that the PDU's approval of the project is a "red line" for the negotiation with his party of the 2024 budgets. After calling this project an "ecological attack", the spokesperson has indicated that "it is time to throw the Hard Rock into the trash can of history" and has stressed that "we have little to talk about if this proposal is activated" because "the Hard Rock model is not the economic development model that the commons defend."
Mena has explained that in the 2023 accounts they demanded that not a single euro be allocated to Hard Rock, which was the case, although an extra-budgetary agreement was finally approved between the Government and PSC on this issue; Therefore, "if a year ago it was incomprehensible, today it is completely incompatible with the needs of ecological transition" of Catalonia, he insisted.
For their part, the socialists have not gone into assessing the opinion of the common people, but have insisted that this is a commitment signed by the president of the Generalitat and that, therefore, it must be fulfilled. Now, if this is not done, "they must explain why compliance has not been achieved," said spokesperson Elia Tortolero. For the PSC, the Hard Rock continues to be "one of the priorities" of the commitments reached that, a priori, make the PSC competition and the common ones incompatible in the 2024 budgets.
Even so, the socialists continue to reach out to the Government to address some of the most pressing issues, such as drought, education or the promotion of renewable energies. In this sense, the PSC has launched a proposal to the president this Monday: that he convene a party table in which to analyze these issues. It would be a table "to address specific problems in Catalonia such as drought, education, renewable energy or health," said Tortolero, after lamenting that Catalonia has been wasting time for "ten years."
The socialists are now especially critical of educational management as a result of the results of the Pisa report: "The educational law has not been implemented, but we did not want to fail any councilor so as not to make noise," apologized the spokesperson, who has insisted on demanding from the Government "agreed solutions" in educational matters, but also in drought and renewables.
