Antoni Bassas' analysis: 'The plan that Catalonia needs'

Salvador Illa's government continues its relentless barrage of projects. From the most macro, such as returning to being Spain's economic leader, to the most micro, such as the Barris Plan presented yesterday. All with ideological intent, but allowing for a fair share of the game with the investiture parties (even though the ERC and Comuns parties haven't approved the budget).

The president presented the Barris Plan yesterday., which immediately takes us back to Maragall and the tripartite coalition with Esquerra and Iniciativa in 2004.

There will be money: 1 billion over five years, 200 million annually until 2029, to regenerate poor neighborhoods and rehabilitate spaces in agreement with the city councils, which will have to pay a proportional share of the projects through a co-payment system: the fewer inhabitants the municipalities have, the lower the percentage of money they will have to contribute. The plan includes all kinds of urban planning actions, such as aid to improve lighting, build a nursery, a music school, rehabilitate buildings, and halt deterioration.especially in historic neighborhoods-, etc.

Now there's money to invest, tax revenue has increased significantly, international economic forecasts for Spain are among the best in the developed world, and a lot of money has arrived from the EU after the pandemic.

Another ideological derivative: that in these neighborhoods, no one can feel forgotten and forced to vote for the far right as a solution because they feel the government isn't addressing their problems.

The idea of a neighborhood plan is a good one in a country like Catalonia, which has grown from 6 to 8 million inhabitants since the first tripartite government until today, and in many cases, with low-wage immigration and the risk of concentrated poverty in certain neighborhoods.

A fact:

Catalan schools must manage 9,000 new students each month.. That is, with the school year underway, children continue to arrive at schools (it seems that from January to March there has been a small avalanche), in many cases pre-adolescent boys and girls who don't speak Catalan or Spanish, and sometimes not even English, and yet, schools must enroll and educate them with the entire family backpack the children carry. In the Catalonia of 8 million, things are coming undone everywhere. The best neighborhood plan, or the best school or health plan, is a financing system that allows us to use our taxes.

Good morning.