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The budget pact in Catalonia corners Junts

2023-02-03T15:30:41.366Z


Laura Borràs's party hopes to compensate for its loss of power after the departure of the Government with the possible electoral attrition of the ERC for having agreed the accounts with the PSC


The president of the Junts group in Parliament, Albert Batet, at the press conference last Wednesday in the Catalan Chamber.Kike Rincón (Europa Press)

Although Pere Aragonès already has the 74 votes necessary to approve the Budgets of the Generalitat (ERC, PSC and En Comú Podem), in his speech on Thursday the

president

once again extended his hand to Junts to join the pact.

After the approval in the Consell Executiu and the registration of the project in the Parliament, those of Laura Borràs have been clearer in their rejection of this possibility and now have 10 days to present an amendment to the entire article, something that they had said would would happen if there was no agreement with the accounts.

It is almost certain that the Junts Executive will choose to reject support for the Budget, a decision that has its pros and cons in the strategy.

On the one hand, it corners them even more and takes away the possibility of claiming a large part of the paternity of some accounts that they designed when they were still in the Executive.

But despite the loss of speakers and power, the most shared position is that the current situation allows them to reach the municipal elections with a free hand to establish themselves as the authentic independence option and confront the tripartite with "those of 155", in reference to to the article of the Constitution by which the Generalitat intervened after the unilateral declaration of independence of October 2017.

The leader of the Junts ranks in Parliament, Albert Batet, had been more sparing on Wednesday, when, after learning about the budget agreement, he said that his group would decide its position once the content was published.

On Thursday, the

number two

of the formation, Jordi Turull, assured in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio that his 32 deputies will vote

no

to the project "as it is" after the three-way agreement between Republicans, Socialists and commoners.

On Tuesday night, the former Minister of the Presidency convicted in the process trial had sent a letter to

Aragonès

, given the rumors about the pact, to try to convince him to abandon the Socialists if he agreed, among other things, to coordinate the action of the groups in Congress.

This demand, together with that of turning the approach to the dialogue table with the Government and agreeing on a body that designs the joint strategy of the independence movement, are the same that Junts did to avoid leaving the Executive, in October.

Aragonès, in his appearance before the extraordinary meeting of the Government, has ignored these demands, although he has extended his hand to those of Borràs.

For the

president

"it would not only be possible for Junts to give support, but it would be absolutely desirable."

The Republican leader recalled that not only the germ of the accounts is the draft made by the team of former Economy Minister Jaume Giró, but that Junts governs with the PSC in the Barcelona Provincial Council, and there both have agreed on the accounts of the last four exercises.

These arguments do not end up convincing in the ranks of Junts, where it seems they have become accustomed to living in the contradiction of continually charging against the Socialists and living together in the provincial government and in various Catalan town halls.

Turull has insisted that those led by Oriol Junqueras “have changed the 52% [independence] agreement for the stability agreement with the PSOE.

And the facts have led us here, they have increasingly stabilized the State instead of promoting the independence process.

Aragonès, for his part, has denied that extreme: “The fact of supporting Budgets [with the PSC] does not mean that that 52% is diluted.

We are ready to carry out all the initiatives so that Catalonia can once again decide its future”.

From the Government they insist that the changes made by ERC to the draft left by Giró already included more than 40 of the proposals later made by Junts in the framework of the negotiation.

The Minister of the Presidency herself, Laura Vilagrà, assured that around 80% of the claims of those from Borràs and Turull are in the project.

For the Republicans, more than a "tripartite" there is a "sociovergence" in the Parliament and they remember how PSC and Junts have made several clamps in votes that reveal the meager minority of the Republican monocolor Executive.

Socialists and Republicans, for example, seamlessly defend the expansion of El Prat or the culmination of the Hard Rock project.

Although there are voices within the formation that recall the need to show itself as a useful party and to claim passage through the Executive, they are aware that they are a minority and that the situation forces them to vote

no

to the accounts.

The decision will possibly be made next week.

There are no plans, at the moment, to submit the issue to the bases and the decision would fall to the executive.

That's not it, defend the staunchest detractors of ERC, it frees them from any type of commitment to be able to show themselves as the true opposition to the "tripartite" that they see installed in the Executive.

Both in Junts and in ERC they see the municipal elections as a thermometer of how voters have digested the run over end of the coalition Executive between the two and if the pact path defended by Aragonès or the more confrontational one with the State of those of Borràs is endorsed.

This last flag is very difficult to brandish when, for example, in the Catalan capital, the candidacy of Xavier Trias needs a moderate tone to be able to agglutinate the discontent against the mayoress Ada Colau.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-02-03

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