The opposition demands resignations over the commuter rail system, and the Catalan government offers a "national pact".

BarcelonaAfter a week of chaos on the commuter rail network, the opposition has pounced on the Catalan government, demanding accountability for the state of the network and the service disruptions. Replacing Salvador Illa –still hospitalized—The Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, appeared before Parliament to defend the government's actions regarding the service disruptions following the accident in Gelida, a crisis that on Monday resulted in two dismissals: the operational director of the commuter rail service and the director of operations for Adif (the Spanish railway infrastructure manager). However, the opposition is not satisfied and is demanding a reshuffle of leadership positions within the Generalitat (the Catalan government), starting with that of the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque. All political groups except Comuns have demanded this, although they have suggested that the same person should not bear the responsibility for two of the government's most pressing issues: trains and housing. Nevertheless, the government is standing firm behind the Minister and her team.

What is the Generalitat's proposal to address the mobility crisis in the country? In his appearance, Dalmau extended an olive branch to the opposition, offering them a "national pact" for the "restructuring" of the commuter rail network, with increased investment in infrastructure, new trains, and an acceleration of the transfer agreed upon with the ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia). "The transfer is no longer an option. It is an operational and institutional necessity," Dalmau asserted, while also failing to remind Renfe (the Spanish national railway company) that, as the service provider, the Catalan government must comply when it issues instructions.

Both Dalmau and Paneque have attributed the dysfunctions decades of disinvestment by the StateAlthough he highlighted the change in trend in recent years: between 2020 and 2025, Dalmau explained, more than 2.6 billion euros have been spent, while in the first six years of the Commuter Rail Plan, investment has tripled to 444 million euros compared to the average in 2010. This convinced the groups, who criticized the PSC for not standing up to the PSOE-led Ministry of Transport.

Together calls for a halt to the transfer

For Junts, the handling of this crisis has highlighted the lack of "leadership" in the Catalan government, which it has accused of failing to guarantee the good governance it boasts about. This view has also been echoed by ERC, CUP, PP, Vox, and Alianza. The Junts leader in the Catalan Parliament, Mònica Sales, insisted that Dalmau's appearance "only made sense" if it was to propose Paneque's dismissal and criticized him for the Spanish Socialist government's low budget execution rate in Catalonia, which stood at 45% in 2023.

Distancing himself from Isla's partners, Sales has gone a step further and even called for a halt to the agreed-upon transfer of the commuter rail service, which he considers insufficient. In response, Dalmau and the Republican Ester Capella, as well as the Comuns party, have joined forces to defend the transfer. the joint venture Cercanías de Cataluña. "The commuter rail service will function under the governance of Catalonia," Capella assured, while Dalmau predicted that the joint venture will "take steps to become a public limited company of the Generalitat," without providing further details.

One issue on which ERC and Comuns have clashed with the Catalan government is Barcelona Airport, the other major infrastructure project that the PSC is keen to address. Isla's two parliamentary partners have demanded that the PSC prioritize trains over the airport, but Dalmau has already warned that they will not back down. "Stop defending Aena's interests and start defending those of the Catalan people," Albiach retorted, criticizing the minister for acknowledging the damage climate change has caused to the rail network while ignoring the increased emissions that expanding the airport infrastructure would entail.

In return, the Government pleased Jéssica Albiach's party this Wednesday with the announcement of an agreement to maintain the 50% discount on public transport fares until 2028. The Catalan government's commitment is to maintain the 50% discount on integrated tickets, both for commuter rail and the Barcelona Metro. Currently, 20% is paid by the State and the remaining 30% by the Catalan government.

The PP points the finger at ERC and Junts

The lack of coordination between the Government, Renfe, and Adif regarding announcements of service resumption and suspension, with contradictory information, has also been a focus of criticism against the Government. Dalmau defended himself by arguing that "safety" was always the priority, while attempting to reconcile it with the right to mobility. Despite apologizing to users, he maintained that some of the criticism received was unfair, because the PSC government inherited a situation that has been dragging on for several legislatures: "In this chamber, three people have held the position of Territory Minister," he said, referring to Ester Capella, Juli Fernández (ERC), and Josep Rull (Ju.). Waving the specter of the independence process, Dalmau called for an end to trying to sell "magic solutions" or arriving at erroneous diagnoses that, in his opinion, have already led Catalonia to "mistreatment that the country has long since regretted."

He wasn't the only one who tried to distribute responsibility. The leaders of the PP and Vox, Alejandro Fernández and Ignacio Garriga, respectively, also emphasized the issue. in the high positions placed Junts and ERC have secured positions in state-owned companies as a result of agreements with the PSOE. They have also criticized ERC, Junts, and Comuns for shirking responsibility for supporting Sánchez's investiture and for continuing to blame the Rajoy government when the Socialists have been in power for eight years. For the CUP, the only solution is to confront the State and fill the streets on February 7th. to the protests already called: "They said they would come to manage post-independence Catalonia, and Catalonia is falling apart," Dani Cornellà emphasized. The leader of Aliança Catalana, Sílvia Orriols, accused the PSC of "incompetence that causes deaths," in collusion with ERC, according to her.

The session saw another clash between Albiach and Fernández regarding the history of railway crises: "We've never experienced the atrocities that happen to you," the Popular Party representative retorted, recalling the Adamuz accident and, during the first tripartite government, the collapse of the Carmel tunnel. This statement provoked a strong reaction from Albiach, who reminded him of the tragic Valencia metro accident in 2006 and the AVE high-speed train crash in Angrois in 2013.