ERC validates Salvador Illa's budgets

Saint Sadurní of AnoiaConversations had been on track for days, but the Government did not want to formalize an agreement until after the Andalusian elections. Well, it was just the next day when Esquerra officially gave its yes to Salvador Illa's first budget after explaining the pact first to the executive, and then to the national council. Salvador Illa and Oriol Junqueras will sign the agreement this Tuesday at the Palau de la Generalitat. The pact has not been put to a vote, but according to various sources consulted, and the party has "informed" the national councilors of the pact's content.It is in the national council meeting where the voices of the party's critics have been heard. With ERC's yes, the Government only has to finish negotiating with the Commons on the updating of its pact.

Salvador Illa withdrew the budgets in March, in an unprecedented move until now, after the failure of negotiations with Esquerra over the transfer of IRPF collection —the leadership aspires to recover this demand via amendments to the financing law—. In return, the Republicans decided that this issue would cease to be a red line to try to reset negotiations. After two months of almost daily conversations, socialists and republicans will officialize the pact this Tuesday. A photograph that will be preceded by a first handshake between Illa and Junqueras. It was this Monday, at an event in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, where the two leaders staged the pact for the fourth railway belt, the condition that the Republicans set to unblock the accounts after the failure of the IRPF collection.It is precisely this renunciation that the critical sector reproaches the leadership for. They consider that the demands have been "lowered" to justify their willingness to approve Illa's budgets. "There is a strategic shift," points out a consulted source. Another former leader, who is in favor of approving the budgets, adds that he regrets that the party has renounced the IRPF when it could have pushed hardest. In fact, some critics also point out that it is not the right time to approve the accounts, just when the Government has several open crises, the most serious being in the education sector. "We are throwing a lifeline to Illa at the moment he has the most problems," adds another voice from the critical sector.

These reproaches have been felt during the XX that the national council has lasted, but they do not only come from the critical sector, but there are members of the leadership who also admit that the pact is not optimal for approving the budgets and that the demands could have been higher. The party has not put this decision to a vote and this Tuesday it will sign the agreement with the Government.

The agreements for the budgets

The orbital railway line is the main agreement that has served to unblock the accounts. "It is a commitment to competitiveness. To connect regions that concentrate a large part of the population. It is a commitment to the future," defended Illa. The head of the Catalan executive took the opportunity to highlight the agreement with ERC and the "demanding collaboration" of the Republicans: "Politics today involves reaching agreements." "It is a central and decisive commitment for the whole country. More than a train line, it is the will to change the country's model," argued, in turn, Oriol Junqueras: "To create a railway network that favors the growth and prosperity of our society.

Although it was not part of the investiture agreements and until now neither party had highlighted the importance of the project, socialists and republicans have agreed to move forward with a fourth belt railway to connect Vilanova i la Geltrú with Mataró without passing through Barcelona. This is a project that had been shelved since 2010. In fact, the first time it was put on the table was with the tripartit government of the Generalitat. The timeline agreed by both sides is for the infrastructure to be executed in the next 15 years and to be completed by 2041. "It is an optimistic and realistic timeline," point out government sources. The State is the one that should finance the infrastructure, which has a cost of 5.2 billion euros.

In this morning's event, the mayor of Vilafranca del Penedès, Francisco Romero (PSC); the mayoress of Sabadell, Marta Farrés (PSC); the mayor of Caldes de Montbui, Isidre Pineda (ERC); and the mayoress of Sitges, Aurora Carbonell (ERC), participated, who defended the line as a way to connect all these territories in the second metropolitan ring, which brings together about 3.2 million people. "It will generate better connectivity within Catalonia," defended the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque.

Besides the orbital line, Esquerra has also agreed with the Government on the investment company, which should oversee the money the State plans for Catalonia. In fact, sources from both sides point out that the execution of this orbital line should already be carried out by this company. This matter will have to be validated by the Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission, which will be held this Wednesday in Madrid. A change in the governance of the Consorci de la Zona Franca has also been agreed upon, giving Catalonia a majority: the Generalitat de Catalunya (40%) and the City Council (15%) would jointly have 55% of the weight in the direction of the body, and the State would retain 45%.

Furthermore, socialists and republicans have also agreed to allocate 527 million euros to continue scaling up the Tax Agency of Catalonia (ATC), as reported by La Vanguardia and confirmed by ARA. This is a specific program contract to allocate these 527 million euros to the ATC until 2029 so that the entity has "stable funding" that allows it to promote "the necessary technological, process, data management, and organizational changes, especially in terms of collection". Of the total resources, 481.2 million will be transferred by the Department of Economy, and a provision of approximately 20 million euros will already be included in the budgets for this 2026.