Barcelona, July 1, 2021
Miquel Iceta. / EFE / QUIQUE GARCÍA
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Civil Service, Miquel Iceta, has defended this Thursday voting in a referendum a “great agreement on self-government, financing and participation of the autonomous communities in the design of State policies”, within the framework of the process of dialogue between the Government and the Generalitat.
In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, he has argued that it is the most reasonable and most desirable proposal: “Now, in these processes you have to be very prudent, because we have to build the solution together”.
“It is not so important what is put on the table but the will to bring positions closer and that we reach a solution that can reasonably satisfy a majority”, which he does not believe will be achieved immediately.
He also stressed that in Catalonia all the regional powers already provided for in the 2006 Statute have not yet been developed and that there are “financing problems that everyone accepts”, issues that he sees as necessary to address. “We do not have federal-type structures, which is what would allow us to combine self-government with shared government, which has now been named co-governance. We are at the beginning of a path that should lead us to a truly federal state,” he stressed. .
Asked if they foresee a differentiated treatment for Catalonia, he said: “Everything good that I want for myself, I want for others”, and recalled that Catalonia already exercises powers that other communities do not have, such as prisons, which he recalled that Euskadi has not assumed until now. Even so, he has defended that the State of the autonomies allows to make “tailored suits”, and has opened to apply specific measures for Catalonia if there is an agreement, as was done with the provincial rights with the first additional provision of the Constitution.
Although there are voices that have proposed including a similar additional provision for Catalonia – he has detailed – the Government does not have “a closed position”, but will seek to find a solution agreed upon by common agreement.
Iceta has also defended that at the dialogue table the Generalitat can propose what it considers – such as an independence referendum, which the Executive rejects -: “The dialogue table is made to talk about everything. Now, some believe that talking of everything is that their position will be accepted for everything”.
https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20210701/iceta-defiende-votar-referendum-acuerdo-11873517
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