The Parliament of Catalonia spoke out on Thursday in favor of the economic agreement for the Generalitat, in accordance with what was agreed by the PSC and the ERC for the investiture of Salvador Illa. This is the first time that the Autonomous Chamber has expressed its support for the initiative, even if the parties promoting it were unable to present a common text. Junts, for his part, did not vote in favor of any of them and recorded one of his own – which was not approved – without the solidarity quota provided for in the de facto tripartite texts.
The 68 deputies who make up Illa’s tripartite party, the absolute majority of Parliament, were enough to claim, within the framework of the general policy debate held this week, the central axis of what will be the legislature which began in May . Even if the approved texts They have no legislative value They will set the course of the government in its relations with the ERC and those of the Spanish government, in the hands of those of Carles Puigdemont.
Thus, at the suggestion of the municipalities, the CPS accepted that the new financing agreement, which arouses the mistrust of part of the PSOE and will affect the autonomy of other regions, “is based on the principles of sufficiency, ordinality , solidarity”. , co-responsibility and efficiency” and set clear “boundaries” “to downward tax competition, eradicating tax dumping”, in reference to the tax policies carried out by the PP in the communities it governs.
In the CER text, also approved with the approval of the COPS, it is argued that “Catalonia suffers from persistent underfinancing over time” due to “an obsolete common regime financing model” and that, therefore, the Generalitat needs “own and unique” financing that allows Catalonia “gain fiscal and economic sovereignty”, by collecting all taxes and then contributing to a solidarity contribution under certain conditions.
It is in the COPS proposal, also approved, that this solidarity with the other regions is concretized. This will be limited to governments counterpart to the Catalan government which exercise “a similar budgetary effort.” That is to say, part of the Catalan quota – state spending plus solidarity – will be reduced to the way in which the host regions exercise their margin of autonomy, thus setting their policies.
Secessionist minority
On the other hand, the votes on the resolutions presented by the political groups after the general policy debate revealed the minority of separatists in the Catalan Chamber. Thus, an initiative by Aliança Catalana which called for “formally restoring the Catalan State as an independent and sovereign state, governed by law, democratic and social”, as a consequence of the declaration of independence approved in Parliament in October 2017 , was rejected. , among criticisms from Junts, ERC and CUP spokespersons.
The party of Silvia Orriols, In addition, this required the implementation of one of the laws approved in 2017 that marked the beginning of the hypothetical new Catalan state. An initiative which only received three votes in favor. Junts abstained and the rest of the groups, including the ERC, voted against. Marta Vilalta (ERC) indicated that her vote against was due, on the one hand, to the fact that her party does not support and will not support any proposal from this party, which she considers to be far-right, and to avoid what was seen: that the separatists They do not have a majority in Parliament.
This proposed resolution passed the table stage, controlled by Junts and ERC, despite the fact that the PSC and Vox requested that the text not be admitted to the vote. Joan Garriga (Vox) announced that it would take the decision to the Constitutional Court and file a complaint against the members of the Council (two from Junts and two from ERC) who allowed the complaint to be processed. Juan Fernández (PP) regretted the situation.
