Salvador Illa closes his trip to California with the budgets almost in his pocket

BarcelonaSalvador Illa has crossed the Atlantic again, but this time to visit the United States –a few months ago he visited Mexico–. Specifically, the state of California. The objective, according to the Government, is to strengthen ties with the North American technological and audiovisual sector. Illa has visited various companies and signed collaboration agreements with institutions. And while the president was signing these pacts in California, in Catalonia his government was getting the budgets on track with Esquerra, to the point that next week they seem to be definitively approved.

The republicans have convened a national council on Monday afternoon to decide their support for the accounts, and the Generalitat and the State should seal the pact in a bilateral commission next Wednesday, according to ACN. Illa returns from California this Sunday to face a week that could give him the first budgets of the legislature. "The only thing I hope is that the agreements we reached with Esquerra Republicana are fulfilled and I will say nothing more regarding this matter," said the Catalan president to the media from California this week.

For the moment, the Government remains silent on the status of conversations with the republicans. However, as explained by ARA, the executive has smoothed the way in recent days. The two parties have unblocked what will be the trigger: the orbital railway line, the network that must connect Vilanova i la Geltrú with Mataró without passing through Barcelona.

In this way, the Government could approve the budgets in an executive council next week and relaunch the parliamentary process, after having withdrawn the accounts in March. All this, while the executive has not yet resolved one of the crises that has been growing over the months: the educational crisis. The majority teachers' union, USTEC, is maintaining strikes because they are not satisfied with the agreement the Government reached with CCOO and UGT. "We have the will to negotiate," said Illa from California, where he also defended the initial agreement. The crisis has worsened further in recent days due to the infiltration of two Mossos d'Esquadra agents into a teachers' assembly. Illa reaffirmed his "confidence" in the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, and the director general of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero, who apologized for this infiltration.

Two crises that, despite everything, do not seem to impact the budgets. Both Esquerra and Comuns have demanded Trapero's resignation, but have not made it a condition for the accounts to move forward. The republicans, in fact, separate one thing from the other. "We will not let Trapero end up mortgaging the funding of hospitals and schools," said ERC spokesperson Isaac Albert on Monday at a press conference. Comuns also do not link the infiltration case with the budgets, even though the group led by Jéssica Albiach in the Parliament has reopened negotiations with the executive, as reported by Albiach herself to the ACN. The Comuns once again focus on issues such as housing, mobility, and the fight against inequality. In this regard, they prioritize the Government withdrawing the airport shuttle train to Barcelona, as reported by El Periódico and confirmed by ARA.

Illa's trip

While the agreement on the budget was being unblocked in Catalonia, Illa visited various companies in the technological and audiovisual sector, in addition to meeting with institutional representatives from California. He did so with the president of the Californian Senate, Monique Limón, within the framework of forty years of bilateral relations between Catalonia and California. Illa also met with the governor of California, Eleni Kounalakis, in a meeting that resulted in a declaration to update relations and commit to "collaborating to promote innovative sectors, such as technology, agriculture, research, and entrepreneurship", in addition to "strengthening trade and investment ties". Before leaving California, Illa also signed a collaboration agreement with research institutes in the country, such as the one sealed by the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) and the California Institute for Water Resources.