The investiture of Pedro Sánchez inevitably depends on the agreement with the Catalan independence parties. The conversations these days seem stuck. The PSOE is unable to reach agreement with either ERC or Junts, and proof of this is the alert that the Minister of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà, launched this morning: “The negotiation is still between green and very green.” She is so immature that Pedro Sánchez can appear, according to the Catalan leader, at an investiture session in the Congress of Deputies.
In any case, Vilagrà has explained that the negotiations are still underway and clarified that if on the one hand the amnesty "is advanced and we take it for granted", the other two folders are in an incipient state. The councilor has stressed that “the other two folders have to be opened”, one related to self-determination – for which the resumption of the dialogue table would be enough for ERC – and the other in relation to the well-being of citizens and which includes the comprehensive transfer of the Rodalies train service and ending the fiscal deficit.
Vilagrà has avoided prioritizing any of the three ERC demands. "All three are important", he said in a press conference in which precisely the Government has forged a common front with unions and employers to demand the complete transfer of Rodalies and improve funding for Catalonia. The Minister of the Presidency, together with the Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, met this morning with CC.OO., UGT, Foment del Treball and Pimec to also close ranks on that third folder, analyze the economic and social situation in Catalonia and give an account of the perspectives of a new budget of the Generalitat for 2024.
To achieve everything, all the actors have committed to working within the framework of the Consell del Diàleg Social, which last year served the Government to tie the budgets with the unions and employers' associations and then put pressure on the PSC and En Comú Podem in the Parliament of Catalonia with that agreement in hand.
“We have expressed the outrageous situation that thousands of people experience every day due to the Rodalies situation; There are incredible incidents,” said Vilagrà, who has also considered “aberrant” the State's budget execution for Renfe and Adif with respect to Catalonia between 2010 and 2021: only 50% of the proposed numbers have been executed. In 2021, only 19%. Likewise, the Government and the social and economic agents have agreed to denounce the fiscal deficit that Catalonia suffers of 22,000 million euros.
“We have expressed our concern about the financial suffocation that our finances are suffering,” said Vilagrà. However, the demands for the transfer of Rodalies and improved financing, which for the Government are essential for ERC to facilitate Sánchez's investiture, are not essential for unions and employers. They consider both aspects as fundamental requirements, but avoid necessarily framing them in this political negotiation.
