The Government and the Generalitat of Catalonia have agreed an investment of 1,700 million euros to expand El Prat Airport and turn it into an "International Hub," as the Minister of Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, after the bilateral meeting held this Monday between the executive and the Government.
It is an "extraordinary investment" that was not in the prediction of debate of the meeting. As the Minister has detailed, 1,700 million euros will be allocated, which will suppose the creation of 83,000 direct jobs and will grow up to 2.1 points the Catalan GDP. In the same way, and with the same purpose, 1,600 million will be invested at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport.
On the other hand, a joint work calendar has been approved with which, among other points, to address some of the transfers that the Generalitat demanded, such as scholarships and aid for study and competences on the commuter and regional railroad.
It has also been approved "reducing institutional conflict" through a ministerial monitoring commission, the reactivation of the Mixed Commission for Economic and Fiscal Affairs, as well as the Investment Commission in Infrastructures. Also the creation of a working group that studies "the viability" of other transfer requests that reclaims Catalonia.
On the scholarships - which will be an investment of 44 million euros - Rodríguez has ruled out that the transfer can be made before the course of course, since the Working Group will meet to "Perfilar" this movement in October, so that It could be applied, as soon as early face 2022-2023.
On investments in infrastructures, within the framework of the additional additional provision of the Catalan Autonomy Statut, the Minister has announced that the Government already prepares an injection of 200 million euros, 100 of which will be "imminent" and the rest, in 50 million packages will arrive "before the end of the year".
The bilateral meeting started with different approaches. While the central executive sought to grease the relationship between the coming months - after establishing the "reunion agenda" after the granting of the indulses to the leaders of Prochero-, the Government of the Generalitat came with the aim of achieving that Peter Sánchez yielded and transferred various competencies to Government, as well as a wink towards the demand for the storage of the independence process.
A gesture that, according to Rodríguez, has not occurred, since it has been a "very executive" meeting in which previously progressed at a technical level, which has allowed, has said, celebrating the meeting with a "relaxed atmosphere" .
Before the Government's refusal to deal with Catalonia, the distribution of European funds, the Generalitat finally participated this Monday - hours before the meeting between the State and the Government - in the sectoral conference with the rest of the autonomies, in which , under the coordination of the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, the distribution criteria of the 10,500 million euros that will manage the territories have been specified.
In this sense, Minister's own has clarified after the meeting that has gathered all autonomies that the debate on European funds "is part of the multilateral debate".
In the same way, the Minister of Territorial Policy has responded: "Normality requires each debate or initiative to be addressed in its place."
In less than a week, the Generalitat has participated with it in two interterritorial commissions. Last Wednesday, the Conseller of Finance and Economy, Jaume turned, attended the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council. Between both meetings, there was the absence of Pere Aragonès to the Conference of Presidents, held in Salamanca last Friday.
For its part, the representatives of the Generalitat considered "insufficient" agreements adopted at the bilateral meeting. The presidency counter, Laura Vilagrà, recalled that they claim 56 transfers of skills and want them "all and fast", although they did not have the feeling that they progress much in this meeting.
What made it clear is that they do not consider that the granting of these transfers of competences is a "currency of change of anything" so as not to "mix it" with the dialogue table by the "political conflict", which will take place in September and in the that will claim a "agreed solution that passes by exercising the right of self-determination, referendum and amnesty".
Laura Vilagrà pointed out that an "intense" calendar of meetings for autumn and winter was agreed on the 56 pending transfers related to social, infrastructure and economic issues, such as the law of dependency, the minimum vital income that allows strengthening the right to Housing and combating childhood poverty, active occupation policies, work inspection or medical training.
Concrete equipment is also requested, such as the Via Laietan police headquarters, as well as increasing the provision of Mossos d'Esquadra and rural agents to overcome the 22,000 police officers and guarantee generational change.
It has also been claimed that the Committee on Economic and Fiscal Affairs scheduled for December be before to assess the costs of the transfer, and a concrete agreement was reached by the transfer of scholarship competition that will begin to be applied in the 2022-23 course .
In addition, they want to receive competitions in maritime rescue and in the MIR, as well as reach an agreement to avoid competence conflict, such as the State Audiovisual Law do not eclipse Catalana.
The ConsellerJordi Puingeró said the meeting means a "new scenario" and that it should be used for the government to bet on guaranteeing the Auto-government of the Generalitat. He also regretted that no European funds have been discussed at the meeting, when some transfers are related, and remarked that the commuter rail network can be transferred in the coming months.
About whether the government could request the approval of the budgets to the Catalan parties in exchange for transferring the money from the additional additional provision of the Statute, Puigneró affirmed that "we are accustomed to Pedro Sánchez do not have us for budgets, but if he comes We will place the price ".
In this regard, the meeting also agreed on an investment of 200 million euros corresponding to that additional third provision, which establishes that the State's investment in Catalonia in infrastructures will be equated to its gross domestic product.
However, Puigneró has indicated that the State owed 559 million of the third additional provision and that the government's proposal to pay 100 million now and 50 in two subsequent payments is "insufficient".
Date Of Update: 03 August 2021, 17:46
