Jordi Juan, 25 November 2023
La Vanguardia, Director
President of Catalan Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, and the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, greet each other a few days ago in the Parliament / EFE/Quique García
The things of eating
Pere Aragonès called an extraordinary meeting of the Government on Thursday to discuss the proposal for “a singular financing for Catalonia” within the agreements reached with the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The meeting discussed the reform of the autonomous funding system, the transfer of Rodalies and the increase and fulfilment of the State’s investments in Catalonia. All focused on improving the central government’s allocations and competences towards the Catalan community. The Catalan government’s proposal to improve the Generalitat’s financing is going to be a long tail because the aim is to devise a new system outside the Lofca, and it does not seem that this is possible.
On the same day that the Government met, the first opposition party, the PSC, presented a framework paper for its next congress in which it made a long list of day-to-day issues that do not work for the citizens. They summed it up with “back to business as usual”. The socialists criticised the government for its management of the drought, the discreet promotion of renewable energies and the eternal uncertainty over the expansion of El Prat airport. The Government talked about increasing its budget, while the opposition focused on demanding that the important thing is to manage the current accounts better.
Apart from these logical divergences, it is good news that the country’s two main parties are focusing on issues that affect people’s daily lives and not on the eternal problem of the procés. It was about time that the focus was put on trying to improve the lives of Catalans. The pro-independence supporters always say that they want secession for precisely this reason, but the reality is that their efforts have only led to a division of Catalan society, a weakening of Catalonia’s economy and a judicial repression that we will see if it is possible to correct with the proposed amnesty law.
There are some 14 months to go before another date with the ballot box in Catalonia, and it seems that this time the focus will be more on the business of eating than on the desire for independence.
https://www.lavanguardia.com/opinion/20231124/9405289/cosas-comer.html
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