The first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa, has called on the Government to design a budget project for 2023 that generates the maximum possible support, as happened when the socialists, ERC, Junts and comuns agreed on a bill in defense of Catalan in the school: “If it could be 80%, 80%, without excluding anyone”.
In an interview with Europa Press, he defended that, given the current economic context, it is convenient to have accounts for next year and with a broad base of support: “If I were president of the Generalitat, my priority would be to build a budget for 2023 with as broad a base as possible. Let me give you an example, the Catalan agreement. What gives strength to the Catalan agreement? 80% support”.
After a first contact of a technical nature with the Minister of Economy, Jaume Giró, Illa has offered the availability of her group to speak, which is not equivalent to offering “no blank check”.
He also recalled that last year they held out their hand to talk about the accounts and that it was not possible, given that the Government finally approved them with the abstention of the comuns: “It is legitimate, but if the 2022 Budget was already convenient, the 2023 is even more convenient.”
When asked if he will request a meeting with the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, he has assured that it is not his responsibility to take the initiative, but he has defended that an important message would be given if budgets were approved in Catalonia “with a very broad base of agreement ”.
“What budget is right? The one with the broadest base of agreement, and I will act consistent with this. We are talking? No, do I have availability? Yes. Do I sign a blank check? No”, summarized Illa, who believes that all this will force an exercise in dialogue and concessions, as with the Catalan agreement.
According to Illa, Catalan society asks for substantive consensus such as that of Catalan, an agreement that “was not easy, but it was worth it” because its formation, ERC, Junts and the comuns managed to agree.
Inheritance and donations
On whether the PSC is about to eliminate the Inheritance and Donations tax, as requested by Junts, it has refused to eliminate them because it considers that, in the current economic context, income cannot be dispensed with.
“The PSC is about to seriously study the fiscal framework of Catalonia, but at this time it is not appropriate to eliminate taxation,” said Illa, who has also made a good assessment of the agreements of the dialogue table to advance in the dejudicialization of the conflict and to protect Catalan.
dialogue table
After claiming the importance of dialogue, he admitted that it would have been better if Junts had also attended the meeting and criticized them for not believing in this way of trying to resolve the Catalan conflict, even though they demand the right to self-determination and amnesty.
“Starting a dialogue trying to impose an agenda of issues and vetoing others does not seem to me to be the best strategy”, has influenced the first secretary of the PSC, who asks to respect that they defend that the meeting point between the Catalans goes through an improvement of the Catalan self-government and of financing.
On whether the reform of the crime of sedition and other aspects of the Penal Code should be addressed at the dialogue table, he assured that it was a commitment by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, but “it is important that there is a majority that gives guarantees of that this can go forward.
In addition, he reproached again that in Catalonia the table of Catalan parties has not yet been promoted: “It is difficult to explain why dialogue is demanded and not practiced by those who request it in Catalonia”, he added.
after the CEO
After the Centro d’Estudis d’Opinió (CEO) of the Generalitat reported that the PSC would once again win the elections to the Parliament and increase the distance in relation to ERC and Junts, Illa has admitted that they are “good results that, in to a certain extent, endorse” his strategy.
“It is an endorsement of the policy of agreement. The survey shows that there is a majority of Catalans who want agreements, that we sit down, that we meet and that we agree”, he settled.
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