He president of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, will begin his first calendar year at the head of the Generalitat with an agenda full of challenges and objectives. The first point is the approval of Budgets for 2025 and not being forced to have the Government extend those of 2023 again. The Catalan Executive, after assuming that it will not be able to have them ready at the beginning of the year, must continue negotiations with ERC and the Communes to agree on Accounts that meet the requirements of the two formations. Illa, who governs as a minority, needs your support to have stability and, in turn, to promote the “great transformation of Catalonia” that defends. It plans to approve 45% of the legislative package included in the investiture agreements with ERC and Comuns during 2025.
The new leadership of Esquerra Republicana, headed by Oriol Junqueras and Elisenda Alamanydemands the president to comply with current agreements before reaching new agreements. Furthermore, they affirm that since their return to the leadership of the party, “there is no longer any negotiating team.”
For its part, the Government trusts that an understanding will be reached to agree on Budgets that allow the investiture agreements to be deployed. He president He assumed the content of the document between socialists and republicans as his own and promised to comply with it “point by point.” Thus, during 2025, the Executive plans to deploy the unique financing agreed with ERCwhile assuming the transfer of the first lines of Rodalies, faces the problem of homelessness in Catalonia and defines a strategy to promote the use of Catalan.
Despite the opposition of other autonomous communities, the new tax system agreed by PSC and ERC and which has the approval of the Government is expected to come into operation in 2025. The economic model, which will include a “solidarity” feewill begin rolling out with the increase of resources for the Catalan treasury and the drafting of its bases by a group of experts led by Martí Carnicer. In 2026, it is expected that the Agència Tributària de Catalunya will begin to collect personal income tax.
Regarding the transfer of Rodalies, the Government will assume management of the R1 line in January, which runs along the coast of Barcelona towards the Maresme region. In December, the transfer of the Sant Vicenç de Calders-Barcelona (R2) and El Papiol-Hospitalet-Vic-Puigcerdà (R3) lines will take place. Meanwhile, the Parliament urged the Government and the Generalitat to “guarantee” the agreement on the “comprehensive transfer” of the railway service. In a motion presented by the Comuns and supported by the PSC, ERC and the CUP, it was also demanded that the central administration continue to provide the “necessary resources” to develop planned investments in Rodalies until 2030.
Housing continues to be “the priority” of the Government
Shortly after starting the legislature, Illa presented an “ambitious” plan to build 50,000 public homes by 2030 and invest 4.4 billion euros over the next four years. In January a commission will be formed to work on this matter and in February a public land reserve will be created to “expand the available public park.” The Catalan Executive announced that the majority of plots are between “the second and third crown of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area”.
But the investiture partners also maintain their pressure on the Government to enforce the regulation that limits the price of rents and include seasonal and residential ones. The regional government announced that it will create a sanctioning regime and an inspection body in January for those who do not comply with the current law. He assured that Catalonia will be the first autonomous community to have it.
The current regulation has allowed the price to drop for tenants by 0.9% in stressed areas. Even so, housing has become the greatest concern of Catalan societyespecially among young people, according to the Center d’Estudis d’Opinió (CEO). Proof of this is the demonstration called by the Llogateres Union on November 23, which brought together 22,000 people, according to figures from the Urban Police, and 170,000, according to the organization itself, in the center of Barcelona. After the mobilization of the tenants, Illa assured that will “listen” to civil society proposalsalthough he rejected the association’s proposal to go on a rent strike.
Reverse falling data on the use of Catalan
According to the CEO’s survey, 40% of the population of Catalonia believes that Catalan “is threatened and could disappear.” Illa must defend “the country’s own language” in the face of data that shows that its use is down. Only 42% of Catalans speak to other people in this language, which is why the Executive has already launched measures such as include free Catalan courses or online educational resources. In turn, the president of the Generalitat assumed the “task” of defending the official status of Catalan in the European institutions.
On the other hand, the joints They asked in November that the Government of Illa sign a commitment to use the languagewhile ERC promoted a monographic plenary session on Catalan that will be held during 2025. In that session the National Pact for Languagea point of the investiture agreement between socialists and republicans that seeks to promote its use in all areas of Catalan society and public administration. This pact also has the support of Junts, the Comuns and the CUP and is one of the work areas of the Department of Language Policy. Your counselor, Francesc Xavier Vila, He asked Spanish speakers to “abandon monolingualism” to promote “social cohesion” and the preservation of the language.
Measures are introduced to eliminate multiple recidivism
Shortly after the transfer of portfolios in the departments following the entry of the socialist Executive, the Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Núria Parlonset the goal of “reversing the crime curve” in Catalonia. First, he relaunched the Dagger Plan against edged weapons, increasing controls in “hot spots”. Later, it focused on repeat offenders and the Government reached an agreement with Barcelona City Council to work together to put an end to “small crimes.”
A month ago, the Executive ‘agreed’ with the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, that the National Police and the Civil Guard would be integrated into the 112 emergency telephone number in Catalonia. This measure sparked the criticism of the sovereigntist sector, which complained that it leads to a weakening of the powers of the Mossos, but the Government defended that it allows for “a faster and more effective response.” A few days later, he announced that during the next Security Meeting he will ask that the Catalan police assume powers in Catalan airports and ports.
Also in terms of security, the Government plans to open in the first quarter five new courts – four for criminal matters and one for on-call instruction – to combat multiple recidivism and expedite the processing of quick trials. In the Govern Plan for this legislature, the autonomous administration plans to create “new judicial units that facilitate the reduction of deadlines of criminal trials”.
The immigration ‘folder’, on top of Illa’s table
It is also expected that Catalonia will “soon” have powers in immigration matters. The agreement between the PSOE and Junts, which is still being negotiated because it would serve to support the General State Budgets, foresees that the Generalitat manage residence permits or the issuance of documents. A transfer of jurisdictions that will be carried out through article 150.2 of the Constitution, but that will leave out border control or the expulsion of foreigners in an irregular situation.
Illa himself celebrated in the Parliament that the management of immigration passes into the hands of the Generalitat because “the reception and integration of immigrants is part of history of Catalonia”. He highlighted that The Catalan population has a welcoming attitude. Nevertheless, The latest data from the CEO indicated that 58% of Catalans agree that there is “too much” immigration and that 66% believe that administrations have lost “control of the borders.”
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