The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illareaffirmed this Wednesday that the single funding for Catalonia agreed with ERC “will not break anything” and that, according to him, it will serve to strengthen public services and improve things between this community and the rest of Spain.
This is how he defended it in the plenary session of Parliament, in response to the leader of the Catalan PP, Alexandre Fernándezto whom Illa asked what the people would do in the face of new funding that literally serves to defend the interests of Catalonia.
Illa stressed that “there will be a new financing system in the precise terms” agreed with ERC and recalled that the welfare state depends on regional funding because health and education are the responsibility of the autonomous communities.
“It is a financing system that we have not seen anyone who does not defend that it is not improved. And we will not improve it by lowering taxes, as do some of his colleagues who govern in certain autonomous communities”, reproached the popular leader Illa. He also stressed that he lacked four points of GDP in tax collection to reach the EU average: “We need to recover this gap.”
Questioned by the president of Junts in Parliament, Albert Batet, on the date on which the 2025 budgets, Illa called on Junts and the rest of the groups in the Catalan Chamber to collaborate in approving the accounts “if they consider them to be so important.”
“The responsibility is very clear to me: I have it. Indeed, it is up to the Government bring the budgets to this House, and we will present them. My government is a minority government and I know it from the first minute, and I act accordingly, with generosity, at least we try, and by talking to everyone,” he stressed.
Following these statements, the president of the PSC parliamentary group, Ferran Pedret, in turn recalled that, when Junts was at the Generalitat in past legislaturesbudgets did not arrive in time for the first day of the year despite the parliamentary majority.
Regarding the motion presented by ERC in the plenary session of Parliament aimed at removing the tax advantages granted to the casino of Hard Rock, Illa announced that he would support this measure because it is part of the inauguration agreement signed between socialists and republicans.
“The commitment we signed is to reverse tax advantages which exists in the recreational and tourist center of Vila-seca and Salou and, therefore, we planned to fulfill this commitment with the law of budgetary support measures”, he detailed.
With this, Illa demanded “fair and balanced” financing so that the prosperity generated in Catalonia be shared among all citizens, and reiterated that, in the current context, the tax advantages of Hard Rock have no reason to exist, textually, reports Ep.
