Junts’ announcement for Catalunya, this Thursday, has a Catalan derivative. The decision of the party chaired by Carles Puigdemont to completely reject the bills pending in Congress not only shakes the stability of the legislature, but also reads in terms of political struggle with Esquerra. There are still files in the air such as the reduction of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund, the singular financing or the situation of illegal fishing, among others: all of them must go through the votes in Congress where the majority of the investiture no longer counts and where Junts seems to have given up on negotiating.
“There will be no more collaboration, no more negotiation,” said Junts spokeswoman in Congress, Miriam Nogueras. The announcement came less than a week after the formation’s bases blessed the decision made by management at a meeting in Perpignan. This is an evolution compared to what was initially proposed, in which Puigdemont’s party gave up discussing the rules in advance and warned that, from that moment on, the government would find the meaning of the vote in the advice of Congress.
Nogueras’ announcement also seems to put an end to the so-called “Junts method”, like that former president of the Generalitat had named the way in which he negotiated with them and which he had outlined on the occasion of the party’s fifth anniversary rally, last July, in Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste (France). “It means asking ourselves some fundamental questions every time we are asked to vote. Is it positive or can it be positive for Catalans and Catalonia? Does it respect the powers and our identity? Have our proposals been accepted? Is it useful to advance on the path to independence?”
Perched in the NO and self-excluded from the negotiation of around fifty regulations, in the ranks of the Junts they renounce being able to influence issues such as, for example, the expansion of death permits that Vice President Yolanda Díaz wants to promote. The Sumar leader, in fact, accused the independence party on Thursday of “harming the working class” with its decisions, although she also acknowledged that she had announced that she will maintain her support so that the law on customer assistance services or on aid for ALS patients receives the green light of the House.
Junts has already registered amendments to all 25 laws presented to Congress by the government and will not vote in favor of the 21 underway. Within this package there is an important regulation for Catalonia: the regime of control, inspection and sanctioning of marine fishing. The Nogueras party, on September 23 in Parliament, had denounced “the abandonment of the world of fishing by the PSC”.
The veto will also affect proposals already passed by the Council of Ministers when they arrive in Parliament. This is the case of two of the key points of the legislature and which correspond to the central agreements of his rivals on the Republican left: the debt reduction of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) and the future of singular financing, whose legal reforms require a majority of Congress.
The amnesty has an estimated scope of approximately 83 billion euros and which the State will assume as part of its strategy to reduce the over-indebtedness of the territories. If approved, for which a Junts vote is necessary, the Generalitat would see 17,104.95 million euros disappear from its budget in one fell swoop, 19.9% of its total liabilities. Junts had always defended a “total removal”.
Although the single financial portfolio is more complicated, its possible realization also depends on a series of votes in Congress. This change, resulting from the investiture agreements between ERC and PSC, also implies the strengthening of the Revenue Agency of Catalonia, so that it can collect personal income tax. A Republican bill in this sense, which also opens the door for other autonomous communities to manage this tax, awaits its turn to be discussed in the House and it remains to be seen what Junts will do there.
