Specialist in potions and recipes thanks to his training as a pharmacist, Juli Fernàndez (Sabadell, 46 years old) is looking for the formula that solves the knots that short-circuit mobility in Catalonia. He managed to be mayor of Sabadell after results that gave Esquerra four councilors out of 27, so he is supposed to have a good hand when it comes to closing deals. He avoids answering if the Government has worked better since Junts left, but he defends that politics only has one meaning: “Be useful and find solutions for citizens.”
Ask. The Government starts the year without the approved budget. Does it disrupt the plans of the Ministry of Territory a lot?
Reply. It is always better to have the budget approved on January 1, but we hope that the extension will be for a short period of time and we will try to do the best possible management. It is not so much whether it affects our management as whether it affects people’s lives. It is hard for me to understand that, if it is not for particular reasons, both the PSC and those who made most of these budgets do not approve them.
Q. Are they going to end up approving them with the PSC?
R. Let’s hope they are as wide as possible. At the moment, we already have an agreement with the commons.
Q. The Government alleges that this budget project has the support of economic and social agents. Are they the same economic agents that advocate for the expansion of the Barcelona-El Prat airport and that Esquerra does not serve?
What affects the most is what happens closer. To not miss anything, subscribe.
subscribe
R. What the Government wants to do with the infrastructures is to lead them from a real and viable perspective. It is necessary to incorporate the context in which we live in the design of infrastructures. And in the case of the airport, this context was not incorporated.
Q. Aena says that if 1,700 million is spent on the third runway expansion project, it is because it has studied all the possibilities and that is the only possible one. Is not true?
R. Any improvement project would be a reality in a few years, but Barcelona airport will need specific management next summer, because forecasts suggest that it will recover the levels of activity from before the pandemic. Aena’s expansion proposal does not respond to the context we are experiencing or to the protection of natural spaces in the metropolitan area. Nor does it respect the European regulations for the protection of wetlands. The proposal is neither real nor viable.
Q. His predecessor in counseling was fine with it.
R. The Government of the Generalitat did not reach any agreement to make it possible.
Q. Airport, Hard Rock tourist complex and Fourth Beltway. There are three obstacles that both Junts and the PSC claim to support the budget and that they depend on their advice. Does the responsibility lie with the Territory Department?
R. They are not comparable themes. In the case of the Hard Rock, there has been an urban master plan approved since 2016 and there is a court ruling that orders its modification. Therefore, there is an administrative procedure and it is about being solvent with unfavorable allegations. The Government is working to resolve these allegations. Perhaps there is interest in making noise, but the processing is being done.
Q. And the Fourth Belt?
R. It is a project from 60 years ago that does not solve anything. What we have conveyed to the mayors is that for the first time the Generalitat addresses its responsibility to improve mobility in the Vallès. Through roads owned by the Generalitat, the connection from Castellar del Vallès to the C-58 is improved and Sabadell and Terrassa are connected by widening the N-150.
Q. Is criticizing Rodalies and defending Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat a mandate that each Territory councilor assumes upon accessing office?
R. I would love for Rodalies to work well. The comparisons are odious, but I would sign that Rodalies users suffered the same incidents as those of FGC.
Q. You are the Territory Councilor, don’t you have any responsibility for the Rodalies malfunction?
R. Unfortunately I don’t have the ability to make Rodalies work well.
Q. And what is there to do?
R. Assume all responsibilities to try to help people who every morning suffer bad service. I don’t want excuses, I want responsibilities and build a national railway system, where all the networks are part of the same one and that the Generalitat has the capacity to manage it. I would be delighted to assume the wear and tear that managing Rodalies may entail.
Q. Will the transfer of Rodalies to the Generalitat take place one day?
R. The problem is not only management, it is also necessary to have the investment resources to improve the infrastructure. And, if we don’t have the capacity to execute the resources, Rodalies will continue to perform poorly. Magic does not exist, Rodalies will not work wonderfully because it is managed by the Generalitat. But, if we are able to build a scenario where we have service management, investments and the ability to execute them, that horizon is better than what we have today. It is not a political issue, our goal is to seek improvements for people’s lives.
Q. From the Generalitat they complain that the State only executes 36% of the investments that it had budgeted in Catalonia, but in the Esquerra Congress it approves the budgets for the Government. Is it a contradiction?
R. The problem is with those who do not execute, not with those who obtain resources. In the new budgets we have obtained 900 million more for infrastructures and we introduce the formula of the management entrustment so that the one who executes is the Generalitat.
Q. Territory controls FGC which, in turn, manages six ski resorts. With the climate emergency, does it make sense to subsidize with public money facilities that require environmental resources to operate?
R. The stations are a very important economic activity for their environment. Ideal and viable solutions for the future must be built, and the idea is that the resorts go beyond the snow and lead economic transformations of mountain territories.
You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya at Facebook Y Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
#Juli #Fernàndez #Magic #exist #Rodalies #work #wonderfully #managed #Generalitat