Closes a week in which the Government of Pere Aragones has verified his loneliness in the Parliament and in which, in the middle of the offensive of the parliamentary arch, the leader of the opposition, Salvador Islandhas once again offered to approve the budgets of the Generalitat. The new stage is marked by the accounts in the three institutions (Government, Generalitat and Barcelona City Council) and by a new appointment of the dialogue table, before the end of the year, with the challenge of reforming the Penal Code to ease the crime of sedition. The leader of the PSC maintains that the two folders have to be fulfilled, but he does not link one to the other, so he asks Aragonese don’t do it either.
He has not yet met with Aragonès. Does he care that Has he met with other groups, for example, the ‘comuns’, before his own?
You have every right to meet with whomever you see fit and in whatever order you see fit. I have a meeting with him scheduled for the end of next week. The situation calls for more dialogue. I have shown at all times a predisposition to dialogue and contribute to the country’s progress. It is convenient for Catalonia to have some budgets. My predisposition is serious, it is not a rhetorical or aesthetic position.
Can the Government reach the municipal elections without the support of the PSC?
Considering things with electoral horizons already implies a mentality of worrying more about the elections than about what the Government has to do, which is to worry about the situation in Catalonia. It has the obligation to have budgets approved on January 1, 2023. This means making 3,098 million euros more available to the Catalans. The other proposals, I neither understand nor subscribe to.
I do not have in mind now a motion of censure
is offering this outstretched hand and, at the same time, says that he wants to be the alternative. Why don’t you raise a motion of censure?
We live in a very exceptional and delicate moment. We have to focus our energy on solving citizens’ problems. But this does not prevent me from doing what I understand to be my duty as head of the opposition, which is to propose an alternative to a government scheme that does not work. Not rush.
Do you contemplate presenting a motion of censure if there are no budgets in Catalonia?
This is not in my mind right now. Neither is an approach that means that Catalonia does not have budgets. I am a little disconcerted by this ambiguous position of ERC, this lack of clarity and passivity of Aragonès, of not being able to approach the negotiation with those who offer a hand. He has me very worried and a little sad. Catalonia does not deserve this.
What do you expect Aragonès to do then?
Catalonia must be ordered politically. We have had a Government of constant fight, now we have the weakest Government in history. No one knows how to say what the Govern Aragonès has done. Organizing Catalonia politically means that the institutions function at full capacity because we have an interim presidency in the Parliament and an interim commissioner in the Mossos.
Does this mean that an election would mess up even more?
It means that the administration of the electoral results has been done badly by those who reached an investiture agreement. The groups have told Aragonès that they do not trust him because he does not respect the agreements.
Do you think that ERC can bet on an extension in Catalonia to have more negotiating strength in Madrid, regarding the General State Budgets?
Citizens deserve a budget everywhere. My political formation, where it is in a position of government, makes an effort to obtain the necessary support. And where we are not in government, for the moment, we reach out. But it is here that we are told that they do not want to talk. I am sorry. A budget extension is a failure of the Govern Aragonès.
Catalonia must be ordered politically. We have had a constant fighting government and now we have the weakest government in history
Would the ideal be three-way budgets -Barcelona, Generalitat and Government-?
Everywhere. I understand that where there is no support, negotiation processes are opened. But I am very reluctant to mix notebooks, I will not do it here.
Does it hurt you that, despite reiterating its outstretched hand, ERC does not lift the veto?
I am very sad for Catalonia and, at some point, I even feel indignant because I see that it is very unfair and wrong and I do not understand why we cannot negotiate.
Do you expect that ERC will approve the General State Budgets?
It would be irresponsible to leave the Government of Spain, the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council, and any other, without budgets.
Does it make it easier that you have not tabled an amendment to the whole?
It is positive news. I appreciate the gesture of ERC and other parties that, like the PDECat, have not presented an amendment.
Does this gesture have something to do with the dialog table?
It has to do with budgets going in the right direction, with policies aimed at protecting the population. In addition, they can be improved during processing.
How is saying that there is no “repression” of the independence movement compatible with defending “dejudicialization” at the same time?
In Catalonia there has been an application of the Rule of Law. What was agreed at the table between governments is that politics return to politics to resolve political conflicts. This is neither to amend the action of Justice nor to deny the role it has in a democracy.
Will the reform of the crime of sedition arrive before the end of the year?
It is a commitment of the Prime Minister. The legislature in Spain has not finished and the president fulfills his commitments and I have no doubt that he will comply. It is a measure that is correct and that goes in the right direction.
Should this reform have retroactive effects for those pardoned?
I won’t go into details about how it should be. It will be a decision that Congress must make, not the Council of Ministers or the Government.
Now that there is a monocolor ERC Government, is it time to convene the dialogue table?
Yes Yes. But the table of Catalan matches must also be convened more than ever, which ERC has been failing to comply with since January 2020.
ask or not the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena?
I think you should resign. Mr. Elena has been overruled and I think he is doing a bad job. I would have liked Commissioner Estela to stay and the ‘conseller’ Elena to have gone.
He denounces “political interference & rdquor; in the Mossos Shouldn’t the police model be decided by the Generalitat?
The Government must approve the general security plan for Catalonia, which it has not done since 2019. The police model is not fixed by appointing commissioners. Enough of teasing. If the ‘conseller’ has to dismiss the chief commissioner that he chose using an alibi as crude as the feminization of the body, for me he is disqualified from governing.
Elena must resign, she uses feminization as an alibi
What do you think of the solidarity tax claimed by the ‘comuns’ for income of more than 175,000 euros?
In principle, I am in favor of not altering taxation in Catalonia in one way or another, but I want to be prudent and know the numbers, which we still do not know.
Before the beginning of the political course, he pointed out that there were mechanisms, article 180, to try to force the replacement of Laura Borràs and end the interim in Parliament. How is this situation?
Once again, a fight between two political formations causes a presidency without full functions. At the time I said that this had to be resolved and I made the votes of my group available to resolve it without asking for anything. But this is stuck.
It gives the impression that there is nothing to do.
That’s why I’m sad and sometimes a point indignant. But I am well aware of the parliamentary strength that I have. I reiterate my offer, I am doing an exercise in generosity.
What level of rejection are you willing to accept?
In the end, in a democracy, the citizenry has the last word. I move around, I meet a lot, I am making a round of contacts to explain ourselves and listen to the opinions and sensitivities of different areas of Catalan society. The country has to be put in order or there must be a change in the attitude of some political actors.
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Aren’t you worried that you will be accused of inaction if you expect the unblocking to come from the one who governs?
We have unblocked 112 institutional positions and we have made an agreement for the official languages, we cannot be told that we have a blocking attitude. I will not rescue Mr. Aragonès, I work to rescue Catalonia. I can’t do more. If different scenarios arise later, we will evaluate them.