The Government presents the Investment Consortium, which will manage and plan state investments in Catalan territory
Junts criticizes the body, which it sees as "unnecessary" and which only serves as an "excuse" for Catalan accounts
BarcelonaA tool to guarantee budgetary execution in Catalonia. The Government, Esquerra Republicana and a large part of the business world have joined this Monday to present the Consorci d'Inversions, a body that aims to manage and plan State investments in Catalan territory. The proposal, which originates in 2024 from the investiture agreement between the PSC and ERC for Salvador Illa, seeks to provide solutions to an “endemic problem” in the country, as stated by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, who added that it will be a “good instrument” to improve Catalonia’s “competitiveness”. In contrast, the spokesperson for Junts, Josep Rius, has spoken out against it, arguing that it is “innecessary” and only serves as an “alibi” for the Republicans to approve the Catalan accounts. In his opinion, it would be enough to apply the third additional provision agreed upon in the Statute, which states that state investment in the Principality must be in accordance with its GDP, and Junts takes the opportunity to demand that the resources from unexecuted investments should be transferred to the Generalitat.
Specifically, the bilateral commission will aim to ensure that budgets are accompanied by projects so that investments become effective. It is foreseen that a commercial company – participated by the State and the Generalitat – will depend on the consortium, which will provide it with operational capacity. The Consorci d’Inversió is expected to reach Congress for consideration at the proposal of ERC next Tuesday, April 28. For now, Junts' support – necessary for the project to move forward – is not assured, quite the opposite. “We hope they don’t make us suffer until the last minute,” stated the ERC spokesperson in the Parliament, Ester Capella, in an interview with TV3 this morning.
A long-term view
At an event at the Círculo de Economía in Barcelona, Romero and the CEO of ERC, Lluís Salvadó, agreed that the organization must have a "long-term" vision: "Catalonia needs to move from complaints to solutions," the minister assured. Thus, they pointed out the deficit of investments that the country has experienced in recent decades. The future consortium is designed to facilitate state investment in "complex" infrastructures, meaning those in which various administrations have competence. It is planned that the parity body and the commercial company that will depend on it will be able to tender and award projects, as well as draft multi-year plans and establish corrective measures in case of non-compliance with the execution of budgeted projects.
The presentation of the project was attended by a large part of the Catalan business community. Specifically, the event began with a round table between the president of the Círculo de Economía, Teresa Garcia-Milà, the president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, and the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, Josep Santacreu. Among the public were also different personalities, such as the president of the business foundation FemCAT, Tatxo Benet, and the president of the Association of Developers of Catalonia (APCE), Xavier Vilajoana. In contrast, no representative from the employers' association Foment del Treball attended.
Junts' Criticism
However, for the proposal to pass Congress, which is taken into consideration on April 28, the votes of Junts are needed – at least that they do not oppose it. But the Junts spokesperson has paved the way for a contrary vote, although he has not stated it emphatically, awaiting the concrete details of the agreement. Rius asserted that "there is no need to create new things when there is an additional third provision that regulates" what needs to be done with the investment deficit – although it has never been respected –.
Thus, he emphasized the fact that an entity is not needed that "will only slow down processes", in which "the last word lies with the Council of Ministers" and where the Generalitat will not have "the capacity" to decide on investments: "It is the same story as with Cercanías", he sentenced. The Junts consider that "it does not represent any structural change either", since "a PP-Vox government could come and suppress it". According to the spokesperson, "it is a body that is not created to resolve the investment deficit", but rather as a prelude to the approval of the Catalan accounts: "If they have to approve them, let them approve them, but let them not play with such crucial issues", he concluded. Furthermore, he stated that to know the budget execution data "can be done by pressing a computer key", as it is only "a matter of political will".
