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

BarcelonaCatalan employers and unions will participate in the decision-making of the joint investment consortium between the State and the Generalitat. The budget agreement ratified by the Government and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya this Tuesday provides for the creation of an advisory council to "guide the functions" of the body, as well as the investment company that will have to be established to ensure its execution. This is what the executive has confirmed to the most representative economic organizations –CCOO, UGT, Pimec and Foment del Treball– in the meeting they all held with the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, and the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, this Monday. The representatives of workers and employers have welcomed the proposal, although they have assured that "the fine 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 investment monitoring," he added. However, he lowered expectations because all the details are not yet known. "The objective of the consortium and the company is the planning and execution of investments, and the guarantee that commitments will be 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, also welcomed the proposal. Like Cañete, he highlighted the "good news" that the participation of social agents represents as advisors to investment bodies. However, he recalled that "all the details have not yet been given". For his part, the vice-president of Foment del Treball, Joan Roget – who attended the meeting in replacement of the president, Josep Sánchez Llibre, who has begun his term in Madrid –, has championed a council that "ensures that the budget is executed".

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

More money for industrial policy

The representatives of the economic world have also welcomed the green light to approve the budgets, especially in view of the economic tensions surrounding Catalonia. "Budgets are needed to strengthen public administrations," Lopez stated. Beyond "budgetary stability," social agents have recalled that the approval of the accounts raises the allocation 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 euros, although the Government committed to business and worker representatives to "work in a coordinated manner so that the overall allocation of the Pact can reach at least 5,000 million euros." The accounts, as explained this Tuesday, would allow this sum to be reached. Beyond the PNI, social agents have praised the intention to increase the participation of the Generalitat and the Barcelona City Council in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium; a "good tool for industrial policy," according to Lopez.