The responsibility of Isla and Junqueras
BarcelonaThis is evidence that Catalonia needs a new budget after two extensions. It is also evidence that the negotiating strategies of the PSC and ERC to reach an agreement had reached a dead end. With the Catalan government's decision to withdraw the budget proposal (a gesture unprecedented in Catalan politics) and ERC's announcement that it is willing to negotiate without red lines, the situation has been unblocked, and a possible agreement before the summer is now in sight.
The virtue of any negotiation is finding the lowest common denominator, or in this case, that point where both parties can say they have gained more than they have lost. Salvador Illa will have to go through the ordeal of holding an extraordinary cabinet meeting to withdraw the proposal, but he gains what he lacked a few days ago: the real prospect of being able to approve the budget. For his part, Oriol Junqueras can boast of having forced the PSC to back down, but he has also had to admit that it might not have been a good idea to make the Catalan budget entirely dependent on a gesture from a Spanish government that is in survival mode after seeing the right wing sweep the various autonomous communities where elections have been held. It is good news, then, that Catalan politics depends solely on Catalan actors. However, the PSC will have to convince ERC that it is committed to the idea that Catalonia should be able to collect all its taxes. And it must demonstrate this with actions, not just words. ERC's resistance to approving the budget stems precisely from the suspicion that the Catalan socialists are not interested in opening this front with the State and that they consider it a very difficult, if not impossible, battle to win. But the truth is that the historic novelty included in the investiture agreement was precisely the collection of personal income tax by the Catalan Tax Agency, a point endorsed by the PSOE. And President Illa always repeats that he keeps his word.
Now, the rapid pace of social and economic change in Catalonia in recent years, coupled with the uncertainty generated by the international context, makes it essential to have the most important lever a public administration can possess: the budget. Negotiators from both parties must now get to work, using the major figures already presented by the Government as a starting point, to decide precisely where every euro should be allocated. We already know that both public healthcare and education need significant budget increases, but it is also necessary to give a definitive boost to housing policies and strengthen the protection of the Catalan language, to name just two more examples.
Right now, there are no functioning political majorities in the country that do not involve these two parties, the PSC and ERC, and it is their responsibility to build agreements to make the country function and overcome the deadlock. And in some specific battles, such as financing, the support of the main opposition party would also be welcome.
