Employers' associations and unions will form a council to advise the investment consortium

BarcelonaCatalan employers' associations and trade unions will participate in the decision-making of the parity consortium for investments between the State and the Generalitat. The budget agreement ratified by the Govern and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya this Tuesday foresees the creation of an advisory council to "guide the functions" of the body, as well as the investment company that must be established to guarantee its execution. This was confirmed by the executive to the most representative economic organizations –CCOO, UGT, Pimec, and Foment del Treball– in the meeting they held, the four of them, with the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, and the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, this Tuesday. The representatives of workers and employers have welcomed the proposal, although they have assured that "the small print still needs to be read".

The president of the Catalan association of small and medium-sized enterprises, Antoni Cañete, has highlighted the formalization of "mechanisms to guarantee investments, and that everything that is executed is not lost". "We will act as notaries for the follow-up of investments," he added. He has, however, lowered expectations because not all the details are yet known. "The objective of the consortium and the investment company is the planning and execution of investments, and the guarantee that commitments are met. The music sounds good, but you have to hear the lyrics," Cañete stated, in a press conference after the meeting with the executive.

The general secretary of the UGT in Catalonia, Camil Ros, has also welcomed the proposal. Like Cañete, he has highlighted the "good news" that the participation of social agents as advisors to investment bodies represents. Despite this, he recalled that "all the details have not yet been provided". For his part, the vice-president of Foment del Treball, Joan Roget – who attended the meeting in place of the president, Josep Sánchez Llibre, who has started his term in Madrid – has championed a council that "ensures that the budget is executed".

In terms of specific infrastructures, social agents have agreed to celebrate the orbital line project, which will connect Mataró and Vilanova i la Geltrú without passing through Barcelona. Nevertheless, they have called on the executive to "prioritize" the most necessary works. "We must reinforce the infrastructures we already have," declared the general secretary of Comisiones Obreras, Belén López. Cañete, in a similar vein, urged the executive to address the "urgent problem" facing railway infrastructures in Tarragona, as well as the works on the B-40 road.

More money for industrial policy

Representatives of the economic world have, on the other hand, welcomed the green light to approve the budgets, especially given the economic tensions surrounding Catalonia. "We need budgets along the lines of strengthening public administrations," stated López. Beyond "budgetary stability," social agents have recalled that the approval of the accounts raises the endowment of the National Pact for Industry for the period 2026-2030 to 5,000 million euros.

The project, it should be remembered, included actions worth 4,463 million, although the Government committed itself to business and labor representatives to "work in a coordinated manner so that the global endowment of the Pact can reach, at a minimum, 5,000 million." The accounts, as explained this Tuesday, would allow this sum to be reached. Beyond the NPI, social agents have praised the intention to increase the participation of the Generalitat and the Barcelona City Council in the Consortium of the Free Trade Zone of Barcelona; a "good tool for industrial policy," in López's opinion.