If there is someone in Parliament who knows what they are going to do until the end of the year, this is Jessica Albiach. the leader of the ‘commons’ in the Chamber is preparing to start, for the third consecutive year, a budget negotiation with the Government. In 2020 she went with the Executiu de Quim Torraalthough his interlocutor was Pere Aragones. Last year, as will happen now, with the Republican, already ‘president’, and the ‘conseller’ James Giro.
Last quarter of the year. What balance do you make of compliance with the budgets of the Generalitat for 2022?
There is still a follow-up meeting, which will be key, because compliance with these accounts is decisive for negotiating those of 2023. At the moment there is uneven compliance. Good in Mobility and slow in Health and Education.
Until this third meeting is held, will they not sit down to negotiate the 2023 accounts?
We would like to move forward in parallel. We can’t go late and wrong.
It seems that they will be, for the third consecutive year, the Government’s dance partner. When does sporadic support become a formal relationship? To the third ‘date’?
We do not want to make life easier for the Government, but for the people. Catalonia cannot run out of budgets. Aragonès, in the next negotiation, will have to choose between the employer cuts and En Comú Podem. That will be his big decision.
The accounts of 22 finally reversed the cuts of the Mas era. Seeing what is predicted to come in the economic sphere, can budgets continue to be expansive?
We want them ambitious and expansive. The bosses want tax cuts on assets and capital income. In addition, Foment is blocking collective agreements because it does not want to update wages. We have an energy crisis and an inflation crisis, which does not come from wages, but from the price of raw materials. And just as employers affect the price of their products with this inflation, workers must also have their salaries updated. It’s called justice. We now want to advance in green taxation and the tax on ultra-processed products and make Catalonia sovereign in terms of energy. We do not want to be dependent on either Putin or Algeria. And all this has a name: renewables, also in cities.
“We do not want to be dependent on Putin or Algeria. And this has a name: renewable energies”
And the Midcat, for which Sánchez and Aragonès sigh so much?
the midcat it is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow, it is a fossil structure. Europe, Spain and Catalonia should reflect on whether the war is used as a cover to return to fossil macroprojects or whether it is used to make the ecological and energy transition.
The priority of the accounts of 22 were health and education. By the 23rd, ecological transition?
Social emergency and energy sovereignty. That is, direct aid to those industries that are suffering especially from the price of energy and updating the Sufficiency Income Indicator (IRS), which is what determines how much population accesses aid and which has not been updated for 10 years.
Why, in what is the State-Generalitat dialogue, sometimes it seems that the interlocutors are only PSOE and ERC? That is, you are not.
I do not share your vision. The measures that make their way, such as the non-expansion of El Prat, are those proposed by ECP. Like those of Rodalies and the reform of the penal code. They become a runway for each other.
Yolanda Diaz visited La Ricarda and a similar act is not remembered in any natural treasure near Barajas. Do landings on the plateau pollute less?
I don’t know how it was managed in Madrid because I am from ECP and I focus on Catalonia. And in Catalonia, thanks to the citizens, it stopped.
“The Midcat pipeline is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow”
Which alliance enjoys the worst iron health, that of the PSOE with UP or that of ERC with Junts?
Differences are normal in a coalition government, but the central government’s legislative agenda is one of the most prolific in recent times. Instead, in Catalonia there is a great paralysis. Budgets and little else.
Did ERC overreact by freezing relations with Moncloa when the ‘Catalangate’ broke out?
Espionage is a very serious issue, an attack on democracy and we share the anger and indignation. He didn’t overreact. But he understood that if there is any way to solve the discrepancies with the State, it is through dialogue.
ERC thawed relations and you yourself redirected an ultimatum that you issued to Aragonès, as a result of the tension generated by the labor reform, you issued an ultimatum to Aragonès. Has ‘realpolitik’ defeated idealism?
We need idealism to mark a horizon and then, on a day-to-day basis, you come across all the difficulties. Governing is very difficult. And with the end of absolute majorities, dialogue and negotiation is a central pillar.
Would you prescribe Junts a bit of ‘realpolitik’?
We always focus on Junts, as if we hadn’t known for a long time what they are. You have to focus on those who believe that you can agree with them. That Junts is in the Executiu is the responsibility of ERC. It is important that everyone realizes that agreeing with Junts is not good for the country.
“We always put the focus on Junts, as if we hadn’t known for a long time who JxCat is and we should focus on those who believe that they can agree with them”
ECP is self-deterministic, but indicates that now the conditions are not met for a referendum. What would be those conditions that are required?
We defend the celebration of a binding and recognized referendum. And this happens because the PSOE returns to positions abandoned by them years ago. It is a matter of arithmetic and of not raising expectations among the population about something that, right now, will not happen.
Is the reform of the crime of sedition also an arithmetical problem, as the PSOE says?
If the PSOE and ERC join forces, the reform would be feasible. It is a democratic issue that not only affects the independence leaders, but also everyone’s right to protest.
Have you defined what articulation ECP will have with Sumar de Yolanda Díaz?
It is a citizen movement that wants to build a project for the next decade and is now in the process of listening to what the people want. The electoral formulas matter to me zero and the citizenship, less. The most important thing is the objective and the rest will fall under its own weight.
Do you fear a possible polarization and a return to bipartisanship in Spain?
There is no fear. Spain has changed. What is scary is that citizens do not regain confidence in politics, because when that happens dangerous ideologies for democracy are rearmed. They wanted to dress Feijóo as moderate when he has tougher positions than Casado. We will see what happens on the 25th in Italy, if one more step is taken in the alliance between the extreme right and the extreme right.
“Ada Colau must be able to complete the transformation of the city. She has shown that she has a model city”
Commit to limit terms to two and choose a third partyDoes it fit into the democratic regeneration of the ‘spirit’ of 15M?
He tells me about Ada Colau. And that was contemplated in the ethical code of Barcelona En Comú since its inception. And it is a necessary thing. Because the transformation of the city must be completed. Colau is showing that she has a city model and from the rest we hear a lot of noise and zero city model.
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Can Ernest Maragall rest easy this year when he sees ERC and the ‘comuns’ negotiating again, looking at the background?
He was generous and consistent with what he had done at the beginning of the mandate. ERC has been the priority partner of the municipal government