The Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, has decided to activate the green button and govern with the sole support of his 33 deputies compared to the 135 in the hemicycle applying an extreme variable geometry. His former partners from Junts have opted to exercise a fierce opposition and everything seems to indicate that the only option left for Esquerra to survive in Parliament is to agree on the budgets with the PSC (33) and in line with En Comú Podem ( 8). The three forces add up to a large absolute majority of 74 seats. Either it is that scenario or the legislature, as the two leftist forces point out, will have a more than uncertain journey with extended public accounts. The president and Salvador Illa, socialist leader, will hold a first meeting in a week to test this new stage after the crisis and Junts’ departure from the Government. They will do so despite the enormous reluctance expressed by the ERC president himself, Oriol Junqueras, who just a week ago closed the door to agreements with the Socialists.
The understanding or not between the two forces in Catalonia will also influence what happens in the Congress of Deputies even though, at least publicly, both forces try to separate the two scenarios. For now, Aragonès will appear in Parliament on Wednesday to give an account of the remodeling of his executive and the signing of three directors from worlds that tear the ERC seams: Quim Nadal (former PSC); Carles Campuzano (former CDC) and Gemma Ubasart (former Podem). Predictably, that appearance will be a portrait of the new reality of the chamber as Aragonès has seven opposition groups before him: his former associates accusing them of having abandoned the path of independence (Junts and CUP); the right-wing bloc (Vox, PP and Ciudadanos) and the left-wing bloc (PSC and common). Aragonès himself admitted this Thursday, in an interview with TV3, that he does not intend to submit to a question of trust as Junts demands because he would not overcome it and would lead Catalonia to make elections and another probable period of instability.
With this scenario, the socialists are dumbfounded and perplexed by the fact that the president has not already agreed to start a budget negotiation in a situation of extreme social urgency. In fact, Aragonès has come to relativize a possible budget extension, which would make it difficult to dispose of the 3,098 million extra investment available to his government. After the break with Junts, Oriol Junqueras, president of ERC, stated that his party could not reach agreements with the Socialists because they had not done enough to end the “repression”. Aragonès has not, however, completely closed the door. Illa warns that he hasn’t said yes either and asks for clarity. “There is confusion and few clear ideas”, he insisted this Friday in statements to Rac1.
The negotiation of the General Budgets between the ERC and the Parliament flies over the Parliament although the PSC rejects any exchange of support. “I have never liked to play trading cards,” Illa said. The reality is that the PSC has never supported the accounts of Aragonès because he did not want to be a prisoner of the negotiation in Madrid. The scenario has now changed and no matter what happens, no one doubts that the approval or not of the budgets will be the test of cotton to know the duration of the legislature. The two leaders will hold a first meeting at the end of next week, which they arranged on Thursday in a brief conversation that lasted just —Illa revealed— two minutes. The expectation of the meeting basically happens because Aragonès explains if he “accepts or not” the offer of the Socialists, stressed the Socialist spokesperson Alícia Romero. Despite the fact that they are crucial to approve the accounts, Aragonès has placed them as the last option to negotiate after Junts (which has already said no) and common and CUP. However, Campuzano has already stated that the Government will have to assess “other scenarios” (alluding to the PSC) if Junts slams the door.
The PSC has met with the employers Foment and PIMEC, with CC OO and CGU and the Third Sector and countless entities to listen to their requests in future budgets. “The important thing is the problems of families and companies. Nobody talks to us about repression”, Romero said this Friday in the Parlament, who invited the Government to approve the draft accounts of former councilor Jaume Giró (Junts) in order to present them on time. His objective would be for the Executive to accept his aid shock plan, which amounts to 800 million, and which was addressed in what they call his alternative Government. The sum doubles the 300 million social shield that Aragonès raised in the General Policy debate.
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