Catalonia doubts that Aragon can take over 50% of the 2030 Winter Olympics

With each passing day, the meeting that the presidents of Aragon and Catalonia, Javier Lambán and Pere Aragonès, plan to hold this Friday in the Lleida town of Balaguer, becomes more important, much more so after the capacity of Aragon in the organization of the JJOO. After the appointment this afternoon between Laura Vilagrà, Minister of the Catalan Presidency, and Alejandro Blanco, President of the COE, sources from the Generalitat have explained that the Catalan side has wanted to limit the meeting to the technical issue and have stated that they are fleeing from controversy. But nevertheless, have ensured that “technically there is no color between the two territories” and have even put in doubt that Aragon could “take charge of an eventual 50%”. Although officially they consider that the Catalan technical project is “much better” than the Aragonese one.

The head of the Aragonese Executive admitted on Tuesday that this week is “crucial” for the future of the Olympic bidbecause of the fact that the Government remains in its thirteenth to refer to the 2030 Games as a project “led by Catalonia” despite being constantly reminded that the process and its completion must be “on an equal footing”.

But the little phrase in question about the Catalan leadership and exclusively “collaborations” with other territories, which the Minister Laura Vilagrà said for the first time last Friday, has been repeated by different members of the Generalitat this week. Even its president, who yesterday, far from accepting the instructions of the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco, added fuel to the fire. He did not rule out any collaboration with Aragón, but always under a technical criterion, that is, “to see what infrastructures are needed and which are the best locations”. But no transfer of protagonism, attributing to the Aragonese community a secondary rolesupportive at best.

Aragonès’s words came hours before the meeting between the Minister of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà and Blanco. A meeting surrounded by mystery, since it was not included in the official agenda. Catalan sources pointed out that it was a “private” meeting requested a month ago from the COE, which also requested that the appointment be private. However, Blanco explained in Zaragoza that he spoke with Vilagrà the same Friday to redirect her, scheduled her visit to the DGA and accelerated her visit to Barcelona.

But in Barcelona the Catalan hierarchy is insisted on. That is to say, nothing to go Catalonia and Aragon hand in hand and on equal terms. The president, in the morning session of parliamentary control, has avoided the attempts of Ciudadanos to embrace a joint candidacy “and on equal terms” with the Aragonese community. He has insisted that the candidacy is Catalan and to serve the Pyrenean counties. What he has not said, although members of the Government explain in ‘sotto voce’, that they feel strong because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) “wants Barcelona” within the project. In other words, the brand of the city is strong enough to even defy the wishes of the State to link Catalonia to the rest of the State with a new Olympic incentive.

In Aragon they remain on the lookout, although the different parties have been reacting throughout the week. The PP has asked Lambán for firmness, a forceful response to the inflexible Catalan position; the PAR has described the interventionist attitude of the Government of Catalonia in the Olympic project as “selfish, excessive and unfair”. And in the Catalan Parliament, Carlos Carrizosa has accused the Government of “refusing to present a candidacy on an equal footing”, launching a “message of arrogance, nationalism and contempt to the rest of the communities” and especially to Aragón, “main commercial partner of Catalan companies and with historical and sentimental ties” with Catalonia. “Stop local pettiness,” said the head of the Ciutadans ranks.

One of Lambán’s partners, against the Games

The counterpoint was put in Zaragoza by Chunta Aragonesista, a member of the PSOE Government, a group that has always spoken out against holding these Games for environmental reasons. “Aragon needs a sustainable model for the Pyrenees based on dialogue, consensus and agreement between all the parties involved. Public investments are needed that respond to the needs of the territory. Just the opposite that the Olympics offer us”, wrote Joaquín Palacín, president of CHA, on his Twitter account. Another curve for the project, which must be given a boost this Friday or assume the beginning of the end at the summit that both presidents have in Balaguer. The appointment arrives with a lot of tension. Catalonia does not get off the donkey. Aragón, who did not react yesterday, has to respond.