Salvador Illa will meet with Carles Puigdemont tomorrow in Brussels: "Now it's time."

BarcelonaSalvador Illa will meet with Carles Puigdemont in Brussels this Tuesday. It is the first meeting between the two since the Socialist leader arrived at the Palau de la Generalitat, just over a year ago. Salvador Illa had stated in recent months that he intended to meet with the Junts leader, but on his two trips to Brussels so far, this meeting has not taken place. Finally, the meeting will be held this Tuesday at the headquarters of the Delegation of the Generalitat to the European Union, located in Brussels, at 4:15 p.m., according to the Government's statement this morning. "I said I would meet with President Puigdemont when it was time, and now it's time," Illa explained in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio. "I'm doing it to send a message: that dialogue is the engine of democracy," he added.

The meeting comes with the amnesty law still pending for the former president of the Generalitat. In fact, on Friday, Salvador Illa once again demanded that the judiciary enforce the law agreed upon by the Spanish government with Junts and ERC. The president expressed confidence that the amnesty will be applied to everyone throughout this political year, including the leader of Junts, who has requested as a precautionary measure the lifting of his arrest warrant in Spain. "The amnesty is constitutional," Isla insisted. In this sense, he once again defended this law: "It was a difficult and courageous decision on the part of those of us who made it, but it was a positive one." "The sooner it is applied diligently and effectively, the better off we will all be," he added.

The image of Salvador Illa in Brussels with Carles Puigdemont was one of those requested by Junts. The party complained that the president excluded Puigdemont from the round of meetings he held a few months ago with all the former presidents of the Generalitat (Catalan government). At the time, the Catalan government justified this by saying that Puigdemont was still an active political leader. "I would have liked the meeting to have taken place in this room, in the Virgen de Montserrat hall [of the Palace of the Generalitat]. I would have liked to have done it here and many months ago. Since it couldn't be, we're doing it now," he stated. According to the secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, the meeting was requested by Salvador Illa himself. "It's coming too late," Turull lamented in statements to RAC1. "Out of institutional respect, it will take place," he added, although he assured that his party had stopped requesting this meeting.

Budgets and financing

The meeting between Isla and Puigdemont comes after Junts has already closed the door on negotiating the next budget for the Generalitat. For now, according to the president, he has not yet begun talks with the political groups, primarily with his two investiture partners, ERC and Comuns. "I will do everything in my power; the scenario I envision is for there to be a budget," he stated. Progress on the new financing model is the main condition that ERC sets for discussing the budget. Isla insisted that his government will comply with the investiture agreement and assured that in the "coming weeks and months" there will be "news" on the specifics of this new model.

A dart at Ayuso

At this point, the president took a swipe at the autonomous communities that oppose this issue, especially the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. "Catalonia has always been supportive. Those who demand it [that Catalonia be supportive in terms of funding] and then go to the Constitutional Court to provide resources when it comes to people, should keep quiet," he retorted. Isla is referring to the legal proceedings Madrid has initiated regarding the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors. He recalled that Catalonia is the second region in the country that takes in the most. The president also once again attacked Madrid's fiscal policy, for "lowering taxes but then asking for more resources." "Madrid is practicing an unsupportive fiscal policy," he concluded.

Aside from funding, Esquerra also demands steps in the transfer of the Cercanías (local commuter rail system). Negotiations that Isla has assured are going "very well." Given the frequent rail chaos that the commuter rail network faces, the president defended this transfer as a means of improving its management and warned: "If at any point we have to make decisive decisions, we will." Regarding the change in governance at El Prat Airport, also demanded by the ERC, Illa declined to provide details and asked for "time" to comply with this point of the investiture agreement.

The official status of Catalan in the European Union is another issue that has been dragging on for months, after Junts (Juntos) agreed to it in support of Pedro Sánchez's investiture. The debate was postponed seven times, but Illa asserted that it is an issue that "is close." "We're talking more about months than years. I would like it to happen as soon as possible," he added, before attacking the PP (People's Party) for "blocking" this official status. "If they hadn't picked up the phone to say 'don't do it,' it would have already been done," he lamented.