MadridRaquel Sánchez (Gavà, 1975) receives the ARA at the headquarters of the Ministry of Transport, in a room presided over by a large map of the Spanish railway network where the radial conception of the infrastructures in Spain can be clearly seen.
How is it noticeable that there is a Catalan minister of infrastructure? Can the radial conception in which everything goes through Madrid be changed?
— It is true that the design and planning of the infrastructures used this radial concept, but this is changing. Services must not only be provided in the big cities and not everything must necessarily go through Madrid.
A group of experts has come out to propose a solution for the expansion of the airport: a runway over the sea. What do you think of this proposal?
— We have not received any proposal, all we know is what we have seen in the media. I think what we all agree on is that El Prat airport requires an expansion to become one hub intercontinental, and we have presented the proposal that we think suits this final objective.
Aena’s proposal affected the Ricarda natural area.
— The runway over the sea also affects, and I think more aggressively, the maritime area. We must look for the most feasible, simplest and most realistic solution. And any proposal must scrupulously comply with the environmental requirements of the European Commission.
But is this feasible affecting Ricarda?
— The EC says that when there are infrastructures that are necessary, spaces can be affected but as long as compensations are introduced, and this is what Aena was also proposing. The plan involved renaturalizing and making a larger protective space than it is now.
But how is it guaranteed that with this expansion Barcelona can be converted with one hub when Aena has historically benefited Barajas?
— We must never consider it a competition between Barajas and El Prat, and this project rejects the supposed prioritization of Barajas.
But you don’t think it exists?
— No.
Don’t you think Barajas has historically been prioritized over El Prat?
— Divestment has affected all of Catalonia’s infrastructure. In 2018 we found ourselves with 10 years of disinvestment and now we are trying to reverse it.
Is this disinvestment the fault of PP governments alone?
– Clearly, yes. We have data that is comparable on what was invested with the PP and what we are investing. In Rodalies, for example, we have executed more than one billion euros.
Or is she satisfied with the budget implementation in Catalonia? In the first six months of 2022 it was only 16%.
— We can always improve, obviously we always have room for improvement, but what I can say is that in the total of the year we executed 40% of the budget and that we executed 30% more than in 2021. This it is enough? No, I wish it was much taller.
But do you understand people’s discomfort with low execution?
— What is important apart from the investments are the tenders and awards that are being made and that guarantee future executions. The scenario and situation in Catalonia two or three years from now will be radically different from what we have now, because we are tendering and awarding projects.
The scenario and situation in Catalonia two or three years from now will be radically different from what we have now, because we are tendering and awarding projects. ”
The day-to-day reality of Rodalies de Barcelona users is a drama.
— What we cannot correct in four years is the disinvestment of ten or less when we talk about infrastructure. We don’t have a magic wand that will solve things overnight, but there has never been as much investment in Catalonia in Rodalies as it is now compared to the last few years.
A few weeks ago we published devastating figures in the ARA. Between January and October 2022 there have been 475 incidents of more than 90 minutes. Can you guarantee that these figures will not be given next year?
— All these actions will guarantee and improve the reliability, safety, punctuality, comfort also of the user of Rodalies. In the coming years we will encounter a change in the suburbs in Catalonia that will be important and people will notice it.
How is the transfer of Rodalies management?
— We are working with the Generalitat, but we need the program contract to define the economic transfer, that is, what is the calculation of the resources that the State Government must transfer to the Government to pay Renfe, which is the operator
One of the main obstacles is that you do not want to cross the tracks of the state network.
— It’s just that these cannot be transferred in any way, neither to Catalonia nor to anyone else, but we are open to analyzing those routes that only provide an intra-community service.
An issue that has been discussed for a long time is the burying of the roads in L’Hospitalet, which has been pending for 20 years. Can’t you set a date already?
— The thing about dates is very risky in infrastructures like these and I try to be very cautious. After 20 years I understand this frustration they have because too often they have been promised for a horizon of maybe 3 or 4 years and it has never arrived, but I think we are now at a turning point.
After 20 years I understand the frustration they have in L’Hospitalet with the burying of the tracks”
Have you explained to your cabinet colleagues that one of the reasons that may have been behind the growth of independence in recent years was precisely this discomfort with infrastructure?
— Well, yes, I said that investment must be made in Catalonia because we cannot consent to this unfair treatment of the last 10 years, but not to fight against independence, but to avoid the deterioration of infrastructure. It is true that this has fueled the narrative of victimhood, but I am very forceful with this: enough of victimhood, and more so now that investment is being made and what we want is for Catalonia to be a driving force for Spain.
To be an engine, infrastructures like the Mediterranean Corridor are needed.
— When we arrived at the Spanish government, work was only being done on one section of the corridor, the Vandellòs variant. Action is now being taken on all the sections that pass through Catalonia. Since 2018 we have invested 640 million euros. And, I insist, these works, which are complex works, generate incidents and cause inconvenience, but they are being done. We have set ourselves a goal and that is that by 2026 we will have the connection between Almeria and the French border.
Let’s talk now about another slightly smaller structure, which is the B-40, which has also been included in this budget pact. Is it a victory for the PSC?
— It is a victory for politics and it is to highlight the consensus that had been reached with the territory. Fortunately, this project that the Generalitat had kept in a drawer a few months ago is now being recovered. It is a very necessary project that brings together the two main industrial economic engines of Catalonia such as Baix Llobregat and Vallès Occidental.
The agreement on the B-40 is a victory for politics”
And when will it be done?
— We gave ourselves time this first quarter to formalize and sign the agreement. Our intention is to make a management assignment, that is to say, to make the transfer of the financial resources and that, if they can do it faster, the Generalitat will be the one to tender, obviously with a monitoring commission.
Let’s talk about housing. Where are they stuck in the law that must regulate rents?
— I hope that in the coming weeks we can finalize the final text that is being processed in Congress. More than 400 amendments have been incorporated, and we are now down to the final fringes.
In these last fringes do you touch what is a small owner? Until now he was someone who could have up to 10 homes.
— This remains, a large tenant is a person who owns more than 10 homes, but a modification is introduced so that the autonomous community can establish that in a stressed area a large tenant is a person with more than five homes. But it’s not closed yet.
It refers to the fact that a great holder is not from 10, but from 5.
— This will have to be justified by the autonomous community; therefore, this is the margin of negotiation and of seeking balance. I also think that we must seek that this law does not have an undesirable effect, which is the retraction, the removal of rental flats from the market, and we achieve this thanks to the introduction of tax incentives for a person who is not a large holder but to whom in the end it can be profitable to rent the flat.
Simplifying, it seems as if you defend more the owners and Unides Podemos the young people who want to access a home.
— Not only are you simplifying, but that’s not the case, it’s not correct at all. We are taking steps that are just as important and revolutionary, if I may. The problem of access to housing will not only be alleviated with a regulation of containment of rental prices, we will do so with the construction of a public housing stock. And we are doing it thanks to the state housing plan that allocates 1.7 billion euros for the coming years. We have also launched a plan to build 100,000 affordable rental homes.
But this is long-term…
— Let’s also talk about the youth bonus that we approved of 250 euros a month and which is maintained for the year 2023, and which can be supplemented with the aid that comes from the state housing plan. A young person can go from paying 600 euros a month to paying 150 euros a month, applying and adding the two aids.
When Catalonia made a housing law precisely to address this issue, the TC overturned it.
— But the TC overturned it due to jurisdictional issues; because leasing is a state matter and therefore the law must be obeyed. We want this law to be a solid law, robust legally and technically, because they will appeal to us, we already know that, and that also means respecting the competences of each one.
How has the council of ministers experienced the repeal of sedition?
— It was a brave decision. We have never hidden that the intention was to reform the Penal Code to adapt it to today’s society, to European standards, and from there also say that what was a crime in 2017 remains a crime now and, therefore, all those who they have pending responsibilities before the Spanish justice system, what we also want, obviously, is for them to be held accountable.
We want all those who have pending responsibilities before the Spanish justice system to account”
Does it seem normal for judges such as Mr. Llarena or Mr. Marchena to take advantage of the hearings to criticize and comment on legal reforms?
— I think that neither politics nor the government should interfere in the judicial power and in the same way it happens the other way around; judges must dispense justice and must not interfere with the tasks of the executive or the legislature. The separation of powers typical of a democratic state must be guaranteed and I believe that statements of this type do not contribute to this.
For you, one of the objectives of the reform is to facilitate the extradition of Puigdemont?
– No, no. Our vocation is to modernize the Penal Code, and from here it is clear that this can have an effect on the extradition of Puigdemont because there was no type, there was no legal basis that would allow the judges to agree on the extradition Now the European judges must assess this regulation and decide from there.