The government and the Commons agree on more hours of reinforcement in Catalan, English, and math.

BarcelonaThe Government and the Commons sealed the agreement this Monday for the third injection of public funds, which will include more measures in education. as the ARA advanced, this weekend they also agreed to allocate more resources for Catalan, English, and math tutoring classes, and to restore secondary school cafeterias in high- and high-complexity schools, as confirmed by this newspaper. This Monday morning, both parties made public the overall agreement. In this way, the Government guarantees the votes of the Commons—after closing an agreement with ERC last week—for the latest package of additional resources to make up for the lack of budget.

The agreement was made public the same day that the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, took a photograph with the unions and employers' associations to also show the social partners' support for this additional €4 billion credit supplement. The Government approved this last week. Last credit supplement of 468 million euros after an agreement with ERC, an amount that adds to the 2,168 and 1,301 already validated by the Catalan parliament. "Stability, ambition, and consensus," said Illa, who recalled that the Government "has no obligation" to reach agreements with social stakeholders on the matter, but stressed that it is "good" to do so anyway. The Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, also supported the agreement and, in a prior address to the media, presented it as a "message of stability" and praised its content because it "strengthens" public services. However, despite endorsing the credit supplements, the representatives of the CCOO and UGT, Belén López and Camil Ros, have issued a warning to the Government: "We would have preferred to sign a budget agreement."

Measures in education

Satisfaction has also come from within the ranks of the Commons. The spokesperson for the Commons in Parliament, David Cid, defended the agreement, saying that "the resources should be in the fields, not in the coffers." However, he warned the executive that it "must comply" after his group has "done the work." The Commons' priority in reaching an agreement for this third credit supplement lay in education. After agreeing on more resources to implement the inclusive school decree, they also agreed to allocate 37 million euros to "deploy improvement programs and actions in Catalan, mathematics, and English" in schools, gradually leading to "two hours of weekly reinforcement." This measure comes after the poor results of the PISA report. The group led by Jéssica Albiach in Parliament also called for free lunch in secondary schools, starting with high-complexity and high-complexity schools. The agreement speaks of "progressively" restoring school cafeterias in these centers. 5 million euros would be allocated from September to December of this year, and another 15 million by 2026.

Both parties have also agreed to move toward withdrawing public funding from several state-subsidized schools. Specifically, they sealed the commitment for the Government to initiate the procedures under Decree 56/1993 on educational agreements in "cases where fundamental rights are violated or hate speech is disseminated, contrary to democratic and constitutional values."

Improvements to trains and roads

The agreement also stipulates that the Department of Social Rights will build 3,500 residential places, which will entail a disbursement of €200 million in investments between its own resources and lines from the Catalan Institute of Finance. The agreement also includes outpatient clinics and hospitals and has agreed to "immediately resolve the dysfunctions of the breast reconstruction protocol."

Within this third package of public funds, the Government and the Comunes have also agreed to begin studying new railway lines. Tarragona. Among other things, they have also agreed on an investment of more than €116 million to extend Line 3 between Zona Universitària and Esplugues Centre, which entails a tender of €4.5 million, as well as the promotion of the section of metro lines 9 and 10 from Zona Universitària to Sagrera Meridiana with an investment of €72 million.