Negotiation on the budgets of the Generalitat for 2023 it has to be settled in the next few days. If the Government of Pere Aragonès fails to next week the necessary support, the most logical thing is to resign to process them. And to continue negotiating because a later agreement would force the accounts to be processed in Parliament in the middle of the municipal campaign. Therefore, an agreement should be closed in the next few days with someone other than the one that Aragonès has signed with the Comuns, essential to make a majority with Junts or with the PSC, but insufficient to move the project forward. The possibility of an agreement with Junts seems, today, a chimera, no matter how much the ‘president’s’ environment keeps that possibility alive to try to lower the expectations of the PSC. The agreement, if it comes, It can only be with the socialists, They have already clearly explained what their demands are, of which Esquerra says they have satisfied 87%. But what is missing is essential for Salvador Illa and for its political project because it is not only a question of guaranteeing political stability but also of exhibiting its priorities as the first party in Parliament. Aragonès is prolonging the inevitable: make a gesture that recognizes their parliamentary precariousness and the value of the support of the PSC, which would have nothing to do with the account settled in the Congress of Deputies. Aragonès is, therefore, the one who has the most to gain from this agreement and, logically, he is the one who has to risk the most and has to get more involved.
The pitfalls of public negotiation are more than explained. The PSC is committed to boosting the economy based on certain projects that the Generalitat de Esquerra y Junts has blocked: the tourist complex promoted by hard rock in Tarragona, airport expansion of El Prat and the call fourth belt in the Valleys. It is true that, as the Government alleges, these projects are not reflected in the budgets, but it is also true that the political coldness that has been shown in its processing has more to do with the opposition of the local sections of the party than with the priorities of the Executive. And that is what would have to change to achieve the support of the PSC. Without losing, at the same time, that of the Communes. difficult equation, but not impossible. But the Government of 80% cannot be done only with the priorities of 33 deputies. We must add more wills.
Beyond the games and political priorities, the Government of Aragonès must understand something else: the precariousness of his support demands the utmost care in democratic ways. Catalonia is facing a year full of elections, and the Generalitat cannot be in any case, especially with the current arithmetic, a platform at the service of a party. Aid to private media or public demoscopy should be governed by the same criteria with which a new stage has been opened in public media. And something similar must happen in a nuclear issue for coexistence in Catalonia such as the linguistic politic.
There are many interested in Catalonia not having budgets in 2023. The economic situation, with inflation threatening the most vulnerable, both in terms of individuals and companies, requires that the Administration respond as has happened in Congress or in the Barcelona City Council. Those same majorities can be reproduced in Parliament, but the correlation of forces cannot be the same. Those who, in both parties, understand that this is the challenge, must prevail over those who intend to throw everything away, something that can be profitable from the partisan perspective but disastrous from the point of view of the general interest. And that is the one that has to defend those who govern and those who aspire to do so and also the responsible media.