Miquel Iceta: "It is essential to expand the Barcelona airport"

The Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, made it clear on Monday that “it is essential to expand the Barcelona airport”, a project that the Government has suspended due to the lack of support from the Generalitat of Catalonia.

Iceta made these statements in an interview on Onda Cero in which he spoke about the opposition of United We Can, in general, and of the Vice President of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, in particular, to the development of this project.

In this sense, Iceta commented that, although in a coalition government “there may be different positions”, it is “essential to expand the Barcelona airport”.

And he stressed that La Ricarda was built "in its day" artificially and that the Aena project proposes moving "the protected area to another place".

More information

• The Government halts the investment of 1,700 million to expand the Barcelona airport

• "The Generalitat will not be the brake on the expansion of the airport"

That of Iceta is not the only voice that after the investment of 1,700 million euros for the expansion of El Prat was lost due to the lack of agreement from the Government, points out that there is still a possible door to not give up for definitively settled the issue.

In fact, the Minister of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà, from ERC, was in favor of being able to continue negotiating and rethinking the plan, but not with the deadline of September 30.

And some entities that have demanded that the Barcelona airport have the intercontinental connections of a

as Foment de Treball, are seeking a rapprochement of positions between the two governments.

That sort of repechage of the negotiations between the executives of Pedro Sánchez and Pere Aragonès about the airport seem not to be very on track. The Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, pointed out this morning that the possibility of extending the negotiation with the Generalitat for one year "would generate more inconveniences than benefits." The head of Transport, in a press conference after visiting the Alstom factory in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda (Barcelona), added in relation to this controversy that the Government has had enough time to explain the project. For this reason, it has once again asked the Generalitat "to ratify the agreement it assumed on August 2" with the central government and with Aena for expansion.Sánchez recalled that Aena's Airport Regulation Document (Dora) not only addresses investments in El Prat, but also addresses those of other airports in Spain, so extending it would not be the best solution. These statements by the minister have been answered by the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, who has refused to enter "a spiral of statements" because he understands that "it is not a way to work." Aragonès, after visiting the Escola Tanit de Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona), has regretted that the Minister of Transport has affirmed to the media that she sees more disadvantages than advantages in postponing the negotiation with the Generalitat for a year: “This cannot be resolved through statements to the media.We have seen how the State Government notified us through the media that they were suspending the project, we have seen details that were already predetermined ”, he lamented.

When arguing his reasons for the expansion of El Prat, Iceta stated that "we are wrong if we think that in 2030 the planes will be the same as those of today, and that they will generate the same pollution." The socialist leader urged the importance of Catalan society reflecting deeply on this question: "How do we criticize radio Spain if when there is a powerful proposal we say no?" In this sense, he argued that if the Generalitat does not endorse the project to expand the El Prat facilities, the Government "is not going to impose it." The Minister of Culture stated that it would be convenient for the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport to be the "great

European and Latin American

", while the Barcelona aerodrome could become the "great

European and Asian

".

Iceta acknowledged that the expansion of El Prat "will require an environmental impact, because it is where it is", referring to the La Ricarda lagoon, although it defended that AENA's proposal, to move part of that protected area, is "sensible and reasonable". For this reason, he indicated that, if the investment is not finally carried out, "we are going to regret a lot" in the future. Finally, he said to accept and respect the opinions contrary to the project, such as Podemos, but reaffirmed that this is "good for Catalonia and for Spain, and it is worth undertaking".

Faced with this position, En Comú Podem has ratified this morning its categorical and frontal rejection of the expansion and has urged

Pere Aragonès to appear in Parliament and close the door to the project as demanded by the majority of Catalans and to clarify if he had known for a long time. two months that the plan affected La Ricarda.

Joan Mena, spokesperson for the

he has asked ERC to be as resounding in opposition as they are.

The minister has not excluded that at that table it is possible to talk about El Prat and the deputy of the commons has pointed out that the Government could transfer its opposition to the project.

"We want more self-government and we want more powers in Ports and Airports," he said, expanding the range of issues to be addressed and not limiting it as the independentists want to the political conflict.