Illa's first budgets make their way through Parliament

BarcelonaSalvador Illa's first budgets passed their initial parliamentary stage this Thursday. The debate on the entirety of the accounts once again highlighted the alliance that brought the socialist president to the Palau de la Generalitat and which the Government intends to serve it to reach the end of the legislature. Thus, the budgets have begun to be processed with the support of the two investiture partners, ERC and Comuns, with whom the Government reached an agreement two weeks ago. The executive, however, has not managed to secure the 'yes' of any of the opposition groups: Junts, the CUP, Aliança, the PP, and Vox had presented amendments in their entirety, four texts that have been rejected. The words of the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, asking them to come out of the "trench" and defending accounts that reach almost 50 billion euros and grow by 22% compared to those of 2023, have not served to convince them. And even more so when, during the debate, the news broke that teachers rejected the unions' agreement with Education. Junts and the CUP have taken the opportunity to attack the executive, while the partners have asked the Government to reopen negotiations.

withdraw the first bill he presented in Februarywithdrawing the first bill it presented in February after negotiations with ERC derailed due to the State's refusal to transfer the collection of IRPF, the red line that the Republicans had set to start discussing the accounts.

In fact, the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, thanked only at the beginning the "demand" and also the "generosity" of ERC and Comuns for agreeing to the accounts. Romero, in this sense, has asked the opposition to agree to approve them: "We must act responsibly, think more about the country than about the trench".

Esquerra has joined and has defended an agreement to endow Catalonia with "more sovereignty". The spokesperson in Parliament, Ester Capella, has claimed the pact for a new financing model and has assured that they maintain the "live work" for the transfer of IRPF: "ERC renounces nothing. Fiscal sovereignty continues to be the central backbone". The leader of Comuns in Parliament, Jéssica Albiach, has also defended the pact, especially for the housing measures they have achieved, but has warned the Government: "This is by no means a blank check". Thus, she said that from now on the Government "will have to negotiate measure by measure" and comply with the pacts without making any shift to the right.

The opposition's darts

"They will have budgets and oxygen to finish the term, but Catalans will have the same problems," replied the leader of the Junts group in Parliament, Mònica Sales. The Junts members maintained their opposition discourse and criticized the budgets, but also the management of the socialist executive, which they once again accused of "anesthetizing" Catalonia. In fact, in Sales's account against the Government, she also took the opportunity to question its transparency following police reports that link the PSC to the allegedly corrupt Leire case plot. "President, your party is the PSC, but also the PSOE. You are more PSOE than the Ferraz headquarters. If the PSOE is not free from corruption, neither is the PSC," she snapped.

But the barbs were not only aimed at the Government, but also at its partners, ERC and Comuns. Thus, the Junts leader presented the accounts as "the sum of three failures: the incompetence of the PSC, the renunciations of ERC, and the extremism of Comuns." In fact, she particularly jabbed at the Republicans, whom she accused of going from wanting more sovereignty to "managing the socialist secretariat." "By some magic they changed the red line of personal income tax for the orbital line [...]. They have gone from red lines to red carpets at the PSC," she stated.

For the PP, the amendment in its entirety to the accounts is based mainly on what the popular leader, Alejandro Fernández, has called "the great socialist eating house." However, the popular leader also criticized the pact with ERC, considering the alliance a "mutual aid society," and poked fun at the role of the Republicans: "He claims to be an independentist, but his leader, Rufián, wants to preside over Spain." Vox, for its part, criticized the Government's fiscal policy and, in the speech given by deputy Javier Ramírez, also took the opportunity to once again label the ERC deputies as "coup plotters." A statement that caused the President of the Parliament, Josep Rull, to call his attention: "I do so from the authority of being a supposed coup plotter."

Aliança, like Vox, has once again attacked the Government's migratory policies, but also ERC and the pact signed for the budgets. Sílvia Orriols considers that the Republicans have done so to "avoid elections and keep their seats" in a Government she has labeled "totalitarian". On the other side of the ideological spectrum, the CUP has lamented that the budgets are insufficient for the disconnection that, according to deputy Laure Vega, exists between the executive and the working class. Deputy Pilar Castillejo has added to this, warning Illa that having budgets does not mean having "answers" to the open conflicts and concluded: "Mr. Illa, you are not Maragall and that's how we are doing".

The financing model

Romero has taken advantage of the debate to pressure Junts and also the PP to agree to approve the new financing model that the socialists agreed with ERC. "Despite legitimate political disagreements, I hope they don't put spokes in the wheels," he stated. The minister, in this regard, assured that with this new model next year Catalonia would have almost 5,000 million euros to incorporate into the budget. It also did not convince Junts. Mònica Sales reiterated her commitment to the economic concert. "Catalonia needs more than 20,000 million euros, which is, surprise, what leaves every year for Madrid," she lamented, referring to the fiscal deficit.