The Plenary Session of Congress has been the scene this Tuesday of a tough political confrontation over the creation of a bilateral Consortium between the central Government and the Generalitat of Catalonia, conceived to plan state investments in that territory and improve their execution rate. The proposal, jointly defended by PSOE and ERC, has met with the outright rejection of PP, Vox, and Junts.
In defense of the bill, the ERC deputy Inés Granollers has underlined that the initiative arises from "the reality of the State's structural divestment in Catalonia, since much has been promised and too little has been executed". She insisted that the problem is not only the volume of resources invested, but that "it has been decided from afar, without knowing the territory".
Granollers has remarked that the new body would allow the Generalitat to intervene in the planning and strategic direction of State investments in Catalonia, through a multi-year plan, corrective mechanisms, and the creation of a commercial company to expedite execution. “But we do not renounce full fiscal sovereignty,” he has stressed.
Defense of the PSOE and criticism of PP and Junts
The PSC spokesperson in Congress, José Zaragoza, has backed the consortium arguing that the autonomous communities could decide "where to invest" because they are the ones who "know the territory best". He has chided Junts for questioning a tool aimed at improving investments and has assured that they cannot stand that "with a PSC Government Catalonia advances".
Zaragoza has also lashed out at the PP for using the autonomies as "trenches against the PSOE" and for renouncing institutional cooperation to seek "confrontation," whether, he has pointed out, by attacking the socialists or by "fear of Vox".
Sumar and Podemos align with the initiative
From Sumar, the leader of the Comuns Candela López has recalled that Catalunya bears a “historical deficit” both in investment and in execution and has demanded prioritizing projects like Cercanías, “not the airport expansion.” In her view, the consortium would contribute to strengthening citizen confidence in institutions and to improving the fulfillment of commitments in infrastructures.
The Podemos deputy Martina Velarde has advanced her group's support because "it is going in the right direction", although she warned that the text must be "sharpened and specified much more". She expressed her concern that the Consortium may end up generating more institutional complexity or overlapping responsibilities and has demanded transparency, legal certainty, and to avoid opening the door to new road tolls.
Junts rejects the consortium and demands transfers
On the opposite side, Junts spokesperson, Miriam Nogueras, has warned that with this Consortium it is assumed that Catalan strategic infrastructures "continue to be controlled from Madrid". She acknowledged that the law starts from a "correct" diagnosis, that "Madrid does not pay", but defended that Catalonia "does not need stalls, but rather to collect what Madrid owes".
“Catalonia does not need a consortium. Catalonia needs the transfers of the money that corresponds to us to be made,” Nogueras emphasized, accusing the different State governments of having “never” paid what, in her opinion, corresponded to Catalans for trains, roads, or airports. She stressed that her position is “very clear”: “Either they pay or they pay.”
PP and Vox attack new structures
On behalf of the PP, the deputy Cristina Agüera has rejected the proposition alleging that what really “benefits and needs” Catalonia is for “investments to arrive”, and not the creation of “more structures” nor the distribution of more “seats”.
According to Agüera, when an Executive does not execute what was committed, it only has two options: assume responsibilities or create new entities to cover up its "incompetence". He has accused Pedro Sánchez's Government of opting for the latter and has stated: "Today we are debating not a real solution for investments in Catalonia, but how to substitute its lack of management with more structure".
The Vox deputy Juan José Aizcorbe has also rejected the initiative, considering that it is not born to solve real problems, but to attend to political "tolls", sustain "unstable majorities" and cloak in general interest what, in his opinion, obeys needs of "parliamentary survival".
Aizcorbe has assured that Catalonia does not suffer from a lack of administrative bodies, but rather a "railway network unworthy of its economic weight, saturated roads, fiscal pressure, insecurity, and damaged coexistence". And he concluded that "a nation of free and equal citizens cannot be organized as a permanent market of territorial privileges".