The candidate's sectoral proposals

BarcelonaAfter half a speech dedicated to making a declaration of principles on what he considers the legislature has to be, the candidate of Esquerra, Pere Aragonès, launched his main sectoral proposals for the economic and social reconstruction, and to palliate inequalities.

Economic crisis

The candidate promises a shock plan of 700 million euros

The first chapter he unpacked was the way out of the crisis, through a social shock plan that he pledged to promote in the first hundred days of the Government. He said he will provide 700 million euros with the aim of promoting youth employment - he noted that unemployment in this segment reaches 38% -, hiring people who are over 45 years old and people from vulnerable sectors. These same resources must also help, according to Aragonès, to reduce waiting lists for dependency and to combat "extreme poverty".

New "social contract"

He proposed creating a universal income for all citizens

To alleviate inequality he mentioned the universal basic income that the pre-agreement with the CUP incorporates, and assured that it will be possible first with a pilot plan. The Esquerra candidate defined it as a "new social contract" so that all citizens have a minimum income, although he did not explain how this citizens' income would be financed. In relation to this, he also guaranteed access to housing by "prohibiting by law" evictions and increasing the budget for housing policies by 1,000 million euros. For economic revitalisation, he proposed using public instruments "to correct the natural tendency of the market to create positions of dominance that adulterate economic freedom". He gave as an example the transformation of the ICF into a public bank, a proposal that has been dragging on for years but which depends on the authorisation of the Bank of Spain.

Health

He called for the consolidation of covid funds after the pandemic

In relation to health financing, which he marked as a priority, he proposed to consolidate the funds for the coronavirus that during this crisis the State transferred to Catalonia. 2,000 million euros that the Spanish government has allocated for the pandemic through the autonomous communities, and Aragonès wants to transform into a permanent transfer to get closer to the 5,000 million he believes the Catalan health needs. 25% of this budget, he said, has to go to primary care.

New Ministries

Make feminine hygiene products free

Another of the important chapters that Aragonès pointed out is the Government structure. Although he has not yet agreed on the new Ministries with JxCat -which is the potential coalition partner-, Aragonès said that he will create a Ministry for Universities and Research and another for Climate Action, and insisted on the Next Generation commissioner, which he wants to attach to the Ministry of Presidency, in order to manage European funds. This last point generates friction with Junts, which wants the management of these resources to be part of the Ministry of Economy, which Elsa Artadi (JxCat) aspires to run.

The other Ministry he wants to create is that of Feminisms, since he aims to make gender equality one of the key policies of the administration. He pledged to form an equal Government. One of the most concrete proposals, although he did not explain how he would do it, is to make feminine hygiene products free of charge.