Will we have Generalitat budgets at the beginning of summer? What, how, and at what speed are the PSC and ERC negotiating to approve them? We should have them. In fact, it is very relevant to have them. Normalizing institutional policy without approved accounts is an anomaly in every rule: resources are lost, processes are slowed down, initiatives and projects are stalled, sectors of civil society –economic, social, and cultural– that depend on public commitment, which are the vast majority, are harmed. Too many things suffer. The worst thing is to settle into a dynamic of budgetary frustration.
Yes, of course: a country can live without budgets because in the end the public machinery continues to function. And society goes on its way. But everything becomes more difficult and heavy. The public engine, which in a modern society carries a lot of weight, works under strain, with half a tank, poorly lubricated, suffering. This is a situation that is becoming chronic. It is a problem. The more budgets are extended –right now the Catalan administration is working with the 2023 accounts–, the greater the risks of spoiling the administrative machinery, public policies, and, in reality, and what is more serious, the institution's own credibility. In a context of growth of an anti-public sector far-right, anything that is a lame administration is giving them motives and arguments for anti-political demagoguery.
It was already a shared failure and irresponsibility that during the last ERC government of President Aragonès, Comuns did not approve the accounts. This led to a precipitate early election. Afterwards, the situation has been reversed: the Republicans have not approved Illa's. In both cases, supposed partisan gain has weighed more than a global view of the country. It is evident that approving budgets means giving political endorsement to whoever governs. At this point, no one can be fooled. But in times of anti-politics and posturing on social media, a gesture of critical responsibility is almost revolutionary: one must have the courage to explain that, despite relevant differences, and without renouncing one's own program, support is given to accounts for the greater common good. This, indeed, is good patriotism.
We therefore hope and wish that between now and early summer, both socialists and republicans have the necessary flexibility to find enough common ground, and enough arguments, to move forward with the Generalitat's budgets. Budgets for the country. In times of global crisis – wars, energy, climate change, migrations...– and siege to liberal democracies, the fewer frivolities the better.
Since the PSC, which holds the primary responsibility in the government, stands to gain the most from approval, it will also have to be the one to cede the most: the problem here lies in its ability to get the Spanish government of the PSOE to move on key issues such as IRPF collection or on pending matters such as the transfer of Rodalies, new funding, the governance of El Prat airport, or the payment for the condonation of part of the debt from the autonomous liquidity fund (FLA). There are indeed breaches that weigh heavily. The next two months will be decisive for the good governance of the country until the next elections.
