The island emerges from it in a fragmented Parliament
BarcelonaThe Parliament voted this Thursday on the political groups' resolution proposals and demonstrated what we already knew: that the fragmentation of the chamber gives rise to multiple possible alliances and majorities, but none that could threaten the figure of Salvador Illa. The president comfortably navigated the general policy debate, and while it cannot be said that he emerged strengthened, neither did he emerge weakened. His plan to facilitate the construction of 214,000 apartments managed to generate enough debate and opinions, both for and against, to set the agenda and make headlines.
However, Isla cannot say that he emerges from the debate any closer to approving a budget. Among other things, because the condition set by ERC, the resolution of the issue of financing and tax collection, does not depend on him but on the Spanish government. Catalan politics has entered a impasse We're waiting for María Jesús Montero to make her proposal and put numbers to what are currently only promises. This will be the moment when ERC must decide whether to accept it and begin negotiating the accounts with Isla, or whether to definitively withdraw from the investiture majority.
However, in the vote on the proposed resolutions, the PSC and ERC were able to demonstrate their unity by voting for a text that "urges the Catalan government to demand a new financing system based on the principles of sufficiency, ordinality, solidarity, co-responsibility, and efficiency." We recall that the PSOE refused to include the ordinality criterion in the agreement of the last Bilateral Commission. In contrast, the PSC voted against the text in which Junts called for the opening of negotiations with the State for the "self-determination" of Catalonia. The Junts members had threatened Pedro Sánchez with "consequences" if the Socialists did not vote for their proposal. Now we will have to see what steps Carles Puigdemont's party takes, who have also used the debate to make a statement with various proposals on immigration that seek to stem the flow of votes to the Catalan Alliance.
Regarding the debate itself, the tone was generally constructive and polite, in stark contrast to what we see in Madrid every day. There is one exception, however: Vox, which seems determined to export to Catalonia the style of politics it practices in the state capital. Its spokesperson, Ignacio Garriga, used clumsy language and disrespected the other deputies, for which he was reprimanded by the Speaker of the House, Josep Rull. This is in addition to falsehoods such as that rapes have increased in Catalonia by 500% (they have increased by 22%, although the Mossos d'Esquadra believe that it is not that they have increased but that they are now reported more) or that the Isla government has increased its taxes (in fact, it has reduced them for low-income people).
In conclusion, the coming weeks will be crucial to determine whether Catalonia will have the budget to more easily fund some of the proposals approved by Parliament, such as free school canteens.
