The Government fires against Junts per Rodalies: "They have governed for many years and have had the service in their hands"

BarcelonaThe chaos in the commuter rail system threatens to turn against the PSC Government. After the week Horribilis from Adif and Renfe, Together wants to force the appearance of the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, before the Catalan Parliament this Wednesday to give explanations about the mess with the trains. The Government defends itself and assures that it is at the disposal of the Catalan chamber if the groups require it, without clarifying whether Isla could appear as early as this Wednesday. However, the socialist executive reproaches Junts for the "haste" that they have been caught in with a service that, according to it, they neglected when they were in power.

In a press conference after the executive council, the Minister of Territory and spokesperson for the Government, Sílvia Paneque, has maintained that the repeated incidents in Cercanías are the result of the lack of investment in the service in recent decades. A situation for which she has blamed the executives of CiU and Junts for not having placed it as a priority.They have governed for many years and have had the service in their hands," said Paneque, who recalled that the Generalitat has been in charge of the service since 2010. On the other hand, he wanted to highlight the fact that the former ERC Territory Minister, Ester Capella, rolled up her sleeves to start improving the infrastructure with the help of the Spanish government. 2025.

However, the Government avoids pointing out the other big elephant in the room: the sustained low execution of investments by the Spanish government in the Cercanías network. A Spanish government that has been led by the PSOE since 2018, seven years ago. Paneque has acknowledged that "there are responsibilities of all Spanish governments", including the socialists, but he wanted to point out that it was the PP who left the investment "at a minimum". There are numbers: since 2015, 250 million euros were invested in the entire Cercanías network in Spain; now, the investment is between 2.5 and 3 billion euros, 500 of them in the Catalan Cercanías. Precisely, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, took pride in these investments and denied that the incidents are the result of an alleged negligence of the socialist executive. However, he asked for "apologies" for the "horrible week" for Cercanías.

What to do in the face of chaos

This Tuesday, the executive council has again analyzed the situation in the train network after activating a technical office and agreeing on staff increases with Renfe and Adif in an emergency meeting this weekend. The Catalan government maintains that it has given explanations "from the first moment" - Paneque will do so, as the minister of the branch, in a parliamentary commission on Wednesday of next week - and warns that, for two years, Catalonia will have a schedule of works that will cause incidents to continue to occur. Faced with this, the Government maintains its commitment to improve customer service and provide information in real time. Beyond Isla's appearance requested by Junts, all this could end up being debated in a special plenary session on Cercanías in the Parliament. This is what ERC, Comuns and CUP have requested in a petition registered this Tuesday.

There is still another aspect that could complicate the executive's management of this crisis: It is the train drivers' strike The protest was called against the transfer of the Cercanías trains, which starts next week. The Government says that it will speak with the unions of Renfe and Adif to dispel their "angries" and guarantee them that, despite the new model, they will keep their labour rights. But, in any case, it maintains the schedule set for presenting the statutes of the new joint venture that will manage the Cercanías trains in Catalonia with the transfer, agreed between ERC and the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The presentation is scheduled for before March 15.

The CUP asks Paneque to resign

However, the opposition is counterattacking. The CUP has directly called for Paneque's "immediate" resignation and supports Junts' request for Isla to appear tomorrow. Meanwhile, the PP and Vox are unanimously calling for the head of the Transport Minister, Óscar Puente, to appear before the chamber to give explanations. The Comuns are avoiding saying whether they will close ranks to make the appearance a reality, but they are already saying that this Wednesday, in the control session, they will ask the president about the issue. The PSC has argued that the "appropriate" thing is for Isla to appear directly in the monograph, which could be on March 25.