When 8.6% of investments put the socialists in evidence

The first word of the day must be for Josep Vallverdú, who died yesterday at 103 years old.History will speak of the Lleida writer as a celebrated author of children's and young adult novels, with Rovelló at the peak of popularity. But Vallverdú is much more than that: there are more than 200 books in Catalan written amidst prohibitions, those of a life that took place in large part between two dictatorships, that of Primo de Rivera and that of Franco, a civil war and a post-war period. Vallverdú, from the same group as Joaquim Carbó, Sebastià Sorribas, or Emili Teixidor, is one of those writers who saved our words, and for that he deserves our gratitude. From Vallverdú, I want to share with you today some wise words spoken in an interview, talking about what was to remain in the last years of life. He said: “Only affections and hopes should remain in the closet, and the stronger the affections, the closer the hopes will be to becoming a reality.” May he rest in peace, Josep Vallverdú.Meanwhile, the judicial landscape is darkening for former Spanish president Zapatero and, by extension, for the current president Sánchez, who has always supported him, because although it has not been clarified who Zapatero influenced to rescue an airline with 53 million of public money for the pandemic, what seems proven is that the company paid money, a percentage of which ended up in Zapatero's pocket, and he denied having anything to do with it. For the moment, La Moncloa continues to trust Zapatero, but in view of what is known, that trust hangs by a thread.And today the Parliament held the last control session of the Government before the holidays. President Illa has been heard to say that he has gone from “no amnesty nor anything like that” to applauding the ECJ and asking that Spanish justice comply with the law. In fact, Puigdemont, Comín and Puig have denounced Spain before the European Commission for disregarding the ECJ.But the most interesting thing was when the spokesperson for Junts, Mònica Sales, asked the president what he plans to do about the shameful state investments in Catalonia, which last year were 8.6%. And Illa's response began by acknowledging the problem.

“And, indeed, we have a problem with investments, with the execution of investments by the Spanish government in Catalonia. They are around the average of the last few years, about 10%. Now, I ask you: are you for solving it or for dwelling on the problem? Because I haven't been president for even two years and I have put a solution proposal on the table, which is to create a tool so that the government of Catalonia has control over the execution of these investments, which is an investment consortium. You may not like it much, but I haven't seen any proposal from you or your group to resolve this, other than complaining, complaining, and complaining. And I ask you, if you don't have better ideas, to support this instrument, the investment consortium. And the question I ask you is: are you for useful politics to help solve things or not?”

Useful politics, says President Illa, the same thing Junqueras said about Junts a few days ago in an interview. But beyond the reply, the president's problem, and above all, Catalonia's problem, is that the State does not invest even 10% in Catalonia, when we are around 20% of the GDP, because this blows up the narrative of the benefits of collaboration. That this happens, repeatedly, with governments of the PP and the PSOE means there is no remedy. And an investment consortium, that is, another control body to ensure that agreements and laws are complied with, is a failure, it is the ultimate proof that even someone as unlikely to be an independentist as Illa knows that in terms of investments in Catalonia, with Spain there is nothing to be done. What did they mean when they spoke of reunion and normalization?

Good morning.