ERC negotiates that Catalonia has the majority of the Free Trade Zone Consortium

BarcelonaEsquerra had agreed on three issues to reach an agreement on Salvador Illa's budgets. On the one hand, the orbital railway line which, as the ARA explained last Monday, socialists and republicans have reached an agreement to materialize it in the next fifteen years. On the other hand, the commercial company that is to oversee state investments has also been agreed upon. And there was a third issue, a transfer that ERC had not yet revealed and is in the process of finalizing with the socialists. Well, it concerns the Consorci de la Zona Franca: PSC and Esquerra are finalizing an agreement so that Catalonia gains a majority in the entity, which until now was entirely state-owned.

As reported by the Efe Agency and confirmed by the ARA, Catalonia would take control of 55% of the consortium while the State would retain 45%. The Catalan share would be divided between the Generalitat, with 40% of the weight, and the Barcelona City Council, with 15%. Currently, the Consorci de la Zona Franca's turnover is 68 million euros and it obtained a profit of 26.9 million euros, according to the entity's 2025 report.

The Consorci de la Zona Franca is chaired by the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, but the State holds the majority in governance. The entity is headed by the special delegate of the State, Pere Navarro, who has held this position since 2018.