Former republican leader Pere Aragonès (Pineda de Mar, Barcelona, 43 years old) celebrated his birthday yesterday. The former president of the Generalitat between 2021 and 2024, now dedicated to managing his family’s hotel business, is not concerned with the additional sum of money that the central government should contribute to improve the current financing system, but considers it essential that Pedro Sánchez respects the investiture agreement of Salvador Illa and holds him ultimately responsible for the agreement, as secretary general of the socialists. In this way, he assures, the head of government demonstrates a real commitment to tackling the far right, showing the usefulness of politics.
Ask. What do you expect from the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF)?
Answer. Much staging by the PP, which even opposes the removal of part of the debt from the Autonomous Liquidity Fund just because it is a proposal from the ERC. Formally the debate will have to open there, but we know that the agreement will arise from a bilateral pact between the Catalan political forces and the Government, on the one hand, and the Government, on the other.
Q. There are also socialist barons against…
R. Salvador Illa’s investiture agreement was approved by the federal committee of the PSOE.
Q. Are María Jesús Montero’s electoral ambitions in Andalusia hindering progress?
R. It is an additional element that conditions. But it’s not about Vice President Montero, it’s about Sánchez keeping a commitment.
Q. Isn’t the uniqueness of the model called into question by its extensibility to other communities?
R. If what is good for Catalonia also has positive effects for the rest, there is no problem. We don’t care that others want their own police.
Q. Get wet with the figure of the additional resources that will be collected in the CPFF.
R. I won’t say anything that can be used to question many things.
Q. What about the model?
R. When we address the debate on financing in composite states, we talk about territories left behindthose left behind. But there are people who face a left insidethat is, it is left behind within those quote-unquote rich territories. Purchasing parity is different, cost of living is different than the rest. Therefore, within a progressive vision, it is already justified that singularities exist.
Q. But the Catalan Revenue Agency is not ready to take over the management of taxes.
R. No, because the law must exist first, otherwise an inactive operational capacity would remain.
Q. Both the ERC and the government said it would happen in 2026…
R. All this calendar of technical means makes no sense if there is not first a law which, among other things, must transfer an already existing political agreement. This is the front line of the battle right now.
Q. Is a Pedro Sánchez government good for Catalonia?
R. It is convenient that the Catalan forces continue to have the capacity to influence. And now it happens there. Of course he can use this to his advantage and say that if he is pushed too hard PP and Vox will come. There is a dilemma, but you have to know how to manage the opportunities and it is worth not abandoning the path of approving the Catalan amnesty in Congress, the transfer of Rodalies and the principle of the financing agreement.
Q. Do you think Junts slammed the door?
R. I heard your spokesperson in Madrid say that the rupture is irreversible. We must always give a disappointment, a difficult moment, the chance to be reversible.
Q. Is it that difficult to deal with Sánchez?
R. You don’t reach agreements because the other person is good and gives you tasks. They are obtained thanks to the correlation of forces and because there are needs. That’s not to say that you can’t do things cordially and have a workspace that allows for ongoing agreements over time. If you want to win 10-0, all or nothing, you can only win the first time.
Q. Sánchez resists without a budget, why didn’t you try too?
R. They are very different contexts. Today it is very difficult to have an alternative and operational majority both in Parliament and in Congress. It is an anomaly to have no accounts, but it is each president’s decision.
Q. Was he wrong to bring forward the elections?
R. No, it was a decision consistent with the desire to give meaning to the legislator. We would have had a socio-vergent majority setting the agenda, without budgets, a government just to warm up the presidency.
Q. Is your Government’s work continuing, as required by the investiture agreement?
R. That pact was ambitious and so we must be equally ambitious about its implementation. The issues put on the table by the republican government are those that are at the center of Catalonia’s political agenda today.
Q. Do you share the criticisms of the extension of the established calendars?
R. If this flexibility proves necessary for full compliance with the agreements, then that would be positive. If the PSOE really wants to fight against the far right, against those who use disaffection towards conventional politics, it is very important that it respects what has been agreed.
Q. But citizens see these calendar changes as transfers
R. This is a risk in political times marked by polarization. But ERC has often felt alone leading the way. I hope that other political groups and civil society are involved in this substantial operation. Because if this does not continue, the time for lamentations will come. The time to act is now.
Q. Can hoteliers cover the tourist tax increase promoted by ERC?
R. As long as we can maintain competitiveness with other destinations, which we can do because we have a lot of resources in Catalonia, I think this does not pose any problem.
R. A hotel in the Balearics will allow the working hours of domestic workers over 58 to be reduced. Is it feasible?
R. Conditions need to be progressively improved, although many companies go beyond what the agreements say to become attractive places to work.
Q. Is the ERC a more cohesive party today than it was a year ago?
R. The outcome after the extraordinary congress is hypothesized. I think it is important to recover the capacity for internal seduction, to avoid the risk of disaffection.
Q. Will you vote for Oriol Junqueras?
R. In parliamentary elections I will always vote for the ERC. I will not comment on the process of electing candidates, because I am the only one former president of the ERC alive and my job is to maintain the internal enthusiasm.
Q. He left the political front at the age of 40. Is there life beyond?
R. And so much. In fact, a whole life ahead. You can continue, which is what most people do. I have the income from my professional work, but I continue to be available to the country.
Q. His resignation from the former president’s salary has reopened the debate on the status of the figure. Should the law be changed?
R. This change is up to Parliament, which decides to update it and should think about the cases of presidents who leave office far from retirement age and have a professional career ahead of them.
