The Government and the Generalitat have agreed on Monday a six-month calendar to agree on the transfer of new powers.
It was ten years since the central government and the Generalitat had addressed an imminent transfer of powers.
In fact, the commission had not met since 2018, when the PSOE returned to the government after the motion of censure that removed the then president, Mariano Rajoy, from La Moncloa.
The Minister of Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, described the meeting as "a good start within the framework of the reactivation of the dialogue."
The six-month calendar has been agreed at the two-hour meeting held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Territorial Policy. On the part of the Generalitat, the vice president, Jordi Puigneró, from Junts, the counselor for the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà, from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), and the minister for the Economy, Jaume Giró, attended.
Rodríguez has announced an agreement between the two executives to jointly defend and develop the expansion of the El Prat airport.
Rodríguez has assured that the Government and the Generalitat will defend the viability of this expansion before the European Commission, which raises doubts from an environmental point of view.
The minister and government spokesperson recalled that the investment to which the Executive of Pedro Sánchez is committed is 1,700 million euros, with the creation of 83,000 direct jobs.
Rodríguez has specified that the Generalitat will take care of solving the autonomic procedures.
More information
The Generalitat seeks new transfers after ten years of drought
Government and Generalitat meet with the aim of shielding the dialogue
Vilagrà recalled in an interview in
La Vanguardia
that the Catalan Executive has detected 56 powers pending to be transferred by the Government, according to previous commitments and according to the autonomy statute. In a subsequent appearance, Vilagrà has indicated that the Generalitat is disappointed because they have not obtained any transfer in this meeting, but has added that the Government had recognized at the meeting that the 56 powers should be negotiated in the next meetings.
Rodríguez has detailed that in the next half year there will be monthly meetings, in parallel to the activation in September of the so-called dialogue table, which will seek a solution to the claims of the Catalan independence movement. The calendar will seek to specify the transfer of skills in terms of academic scholarships, training models for medical students, skills in maritime rescue and professional training, among others. Vilagrà has ensured that the transfer of the scholarship competition has already been agreed for the 2022-2023 academic year and that the details remain to be finalized.
Rodríguez reported that coordination commissions will be activated for investments in infrastructures, especially in the commuter rail network. The Minister of Territorial Policy has confirmed that the Government would increase by 200 million euros in 2021, as established by the third additional provision of the autonomy statute, the budget item of the Generalitat. Puigneró criticized these 200 million for "insufficient", but was optimistic about the possibility that powers in the management of commuter services will be transferred.
The two parties have pledged to "reduce institutional conflict." Despite this, the Catalan delegation has addressed an issue that the Government had asked to be left out of the meeting's agenda, the demand that the Generalitat jointly manage European funds for economic reconstruction after the covid-19 pandemic . Puigneró has regretted that the central executive refuses to dialogue on this issue. "It is incomprehensible that the Government of Spain, which talks so much about the reunion agenda, does not put on the table a bilateral negotiation of European funds." Where Puigneró did show satisfaction was in the agreement on El Prat, because it implies an expansion of the high-speed network with stops at Reus and Girona airports: “Catalonia will finally be a
hub
[node] intercontinental and connected at high speed with the airports of Reus and Girona ”.
Vilagrà has expanded more aspects that must be negotiated: the financing of the assigned powers, the limits to the number of staff that the Mossos de Esquadra may have, the ownership of historic buildings or the future state audiovisual law, which should also protect Catalan, according to the counselor of the Presidency.