The PSC and ERC unblock the 'fourth railway ring' so as not to pass through Barcelona

Barcelona / MadridFor a few weeks now, the Government and Esquerra have been negotiating the budgets that derailed in March with discretion. The two parties decided to give themselves a second chance to try to reach an agreement before the summer holidays and, after multiple meetings and working groups, as the ARA has learned, socialists and republicans in Barcelona and Madridhave unblocked two issues that pave the way for the accounts. If part of the Quart Cinturó (by road) was what unblocked the 2022 budgets of Pere Aragonès' Government, the orbital railway axis, a kind of railway Quart Cinturó, is what seems to be getting Salvador Illa's first accounts on track. It is about the railway network to connect the second metropolitan ring without passing through Barcelona.

On the other hand, republicans and socialists have also agreed to move forward with a commercial company to execute the pending State investments in Catalonia after Junts overturned the investment consortium in the Congress of Deputies. The Government plans to activate the machinery to approve the budgets after the Andalusian elections on May 17 and, in parallel, a State-Generalitat bilateral commission would also be convened in which the Spanish executive would have to validate the commitments reached with ERC.

Let's take it step by step. What is the orbital line? It is about completing a project that would connect Vilanova i la Geltrú and Mataró, passing through cities such as Vilafranca del Penedès and Granollers. It is a network around the metropolitan area that has been talked about for decades. In the project that was updated in 2024, it had a total of 39 stations, 23 of which would be new. Currently, there are sections completed, such as the one from Vilafranca del Penedès to Martorell, but there are others that would have to be built from scratch, such as the connection between Granollers and Mataró. According to sources familiar with the negotiations, the project would have a cost of between 4,000 and 5,000 million euros, which would have to be invested, in large part, by the State. Officially, the Spanish government avoids confirming any agreement, but sources consulted by ARA indicate that the package would have been decided by the three parties last week through various meetings in the Catalan capital and in the State.

"The orbital train is an essential response to the critical situation of the railway in our country", explained the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, on Saturday from Tàrrega. From Esquerra they defend this network as a new mobility model that promotes the train over the car. This project is not new, since the first tri-party government had already put it on the table, but then it was put away in a drawer. "If we are to reach a budget agreement, there must be an explicit commitment to the orbital train", Junqueras said a few weeks ago in a conference in Sabadell. The Vallesana city is precisely one of those that would be connected by this railway axis. In fact, the project also has virtues in electoral terms: it allows the republicans to enter with a mobility proposal in the second metropolitan ring also for the municipal elections, where they aim to gain weight in the big cities.

The investment consortium

The other leg of the budget agreement, which is being finalized, is the substitute for the investment consortium to try to guarantee that the State complies with what is budgeted. Unlike the orbital axis, which was not part of the investiture pact with the PSC, this entity was indeed in the document that the two parties signed in the summer of 2024.Esquerra registered a bill in Congress that regulated this body, but Junts blew it up by voting against it. Both the Government and ERC then assumed that the alternative they had left was to move forward with the commercial company that was also foreseen in ERC's bill and which was to be used to execute State investments.

Unlike the consortium, this company can move forward with an agreement between the Spanish government and the Generalitat, without having to go through Congress. In the bill that socialists and republicans agreed upon, it was established that the share capital of this company would be distributed proportionally between the two administrations as long as the State held the majority. A model that equates it to that of the mixed Rodalies company. The consortium was what had to establish the political guidelines for state investments in Catalonia and the company had to have the most executive power. At the moment, the statutes of this new company have not yet been drafted and it will be necessary to see how the functions it will have are written down.

Financing, after the Andalusians

Esquerra had set the transfer of the collection of personal income tax (IRPF) as a red line for negotiating the budgets for this 2026. But the Spanish government's refusal to delegate it has led to a modification of the script for the PSC and Esquerra. Now it is no longer a sine qua non condition for the Republicans, who have set other priorities.

And although the new minister, Arcadi España, maintains his refusal to transfer income tax to the Generalitat, he does plan to move forward with the regional financing model, which would bring an additional 4,700 million euros to Catalonia. La Moncloa has included this in the 2027 regulatory plan. The timetable includes activating bilateral contacts with regional ministers after the Andalusian elections, with the aim of convincing them of the merits of the new model. Then, towards the summer, the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy will be convened to try to approve it.

In this body, the Spanish government has a majority and would not need anyone else. However, one of La Moncloa's obsessions in this process is not to be left alone with Catalonia —which would vote in favor— against the rest of the autonomous communities. For this reason, with the more than probable negative vote of the PP's autonomous communities and Castilla-La Mancha, governed by the critical socialist Emiliano García-Page, securing Asturias' (PSOE) approval has become a priority. According to informed sources, they have approached positions for this to happen, although officially the ministry does not consider anything closed.

Subsequently, the financing model would reach Congress, where its viability would truly be tested. It would require Junts' endorsement to move forward, as they have already expressed their opposition, considering it insufficient. In parallel, in the coming weeks, the forgiveness of part of the FLA debt (17,104 million in the case of the Generalitat) should also reach the Spanish chamber. But this will also depend on the vote of the Junts party members, who were demanding that the debt forgiveness for the Generalitat be total.