The president of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, challenged Pedro Sánchez this Tuesday to call elections if he is not able to approve the general budgets of the State this year. “The normal thing would be for it not to continue,” said the pro-independence supporter, after considering that the President of the Government is in a weak legislature. Puigdemont has also stressed that, at this moment, the conditions do not even exist for his party to sit down to negotiate the State accounts.
“If things don’t change much, it makes no sense for us to continue supporting the Government,” Puigdemont insisted in an interview on TV3. The former president of the Generalitat has reiterated that, more than a year after his party’s agreement with the PSOE to facilitate Sánchez’s investiture, the balance of compliance “is not at all satisfactory.” A statement that he has said he does not like to make but that “will have consequences” if it is maintained.
The leader of Junts has thus justified the ultimatum issued to the Government last week, which involved the presentation of a non-law proposal (PNL) in Congress to debate the need for Sánchez to submit to a question of confidence. Whatever happens with this initiative, nothing can force Sánchez to submit his position to Congress. But the processing of the proposal, currently stuck on the table, has become a test for Junts.
“They know what will happen if they end up blocking [la PNL de Junts]because trust will end,” Puigdemont assured. “We are not going to make friends in Madrid, if that happens we will decide the consequences,” he insisted.
Among the breaches noted, Puigdemont has spoken about various issues such as the transfer of immigration policies or the execution of past budgets. According to what he said, the execution figure in Catalonia will be below 50% in 2024, something that could also happen next year if they approve the budgets.
But Puigdemont has also taken time to talk about what he has called “political amnesty”, to differentiate it from judicial amnesty. According to the former president, it is one thing that the judges do not apply the law that should free him from the cases he has pending, and another thing is that Sánchez or the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, continue treating him as an “alleged criminal.”
After this argument, Puigdemont has assured that going to see him in Belgium would be a way of granting him “political amnesty.” Although he has also highlighted that this is not something that he takes into account when taking stock of compliance with the agreement with the PSOE.
The former president of the Generalitat and current leader of Junts has offered an interview on TV3 in prime time. A slot usually reserved for the president or the head of the opposition, and which in this case Catalan public television has also granted despite the fact that he resigned from the institutional position antagonistic to that of head of Government. However, TV3 has considered that he is still the leader of the main opposition party, so this slot corresponds to him, which otherwise should remain empty.
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