2023-09-13 16:44:04
MADRIDAny infrastructure meeting between the State and the Generalitat involves talking about the transfer of Rodalies, one of the historic demands of the pro-independence parties. This Wednesday, however, in a meeting between the acting Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, and the minister of Territory, Ester Capella, this matter was hardly even addressed. In fact, it wasn’t even part of the agenda. On the eve of a possible investiture of Pedro Sánchez as Spanish president, the “full” transfer of Rodalies is one of the issues that is wanted to be discredited in exchange for supporting Sánchez, at least on the part of ERC, in a way that on this occasion neither side wanted to draw blood.
This has given rise to dealing in more depth with other issues, some linked to housing. But the meeting did not bear fruit in this area and Capella expressed this at the exit. “As in all meetings, there are positive aspects and others that are less positive,” said the minister. These less positive aspects have to do with the reference index that must regulate rent prices in those stressed areas, as well as with the same stressed areas that Catalonia wants to declare and which at the moment are 140 areas. “There is no agreement”, summed up the minister.
Capella has assured that one of the points of “divergence” is which reference index is used, if one for the whole State, that is to say, homogeneous, or one of its own for Catalonia (the Catalan housing law which overturned the Constitutional Court already collected one). The Generalitat wants this second option, despite the fact that it is aware that the ministry has always talked about an equal index for all communities and is in fact “open” to talk about it, Catalan sources point out to ARA. “The discrepancies are technical”, point out ministry sources, who also believe that the negotiation will come to fruition.
Work on both sides
The work to design this indicator (which will not be imminent) is being done on two sides: a team of cadastre technicians, registrars, but also from the Tax Agency, among others. And another between the ministry and the ministry (it should be borne in mind that the Generalitat is the only community that has asked for it). Although it is based on the Catalan index, technically and for “legal security” it cannot be replicated in the same way if it is to be applied to the whole State: “The Constitutional Court would overturn it”, point out sources familiar with the process, who maintain that the final design will be “very similar” to Catalan, but some criteria must be modified.
“It is very advanced”, they say from the ministry, who remember that in some of the drafts of the law the need to give a margin of up to 18 months to define it had been considered, an idea that did not end up prospering. In this sense, Capella has affirmed that the ministry has committed to publish it “quickly”, but no one wants to take risks with the dates.
With regard to the resolution that the ministry must publish to give the go-ahead to the 140 tense areas identified by the Generalitat, the commitment is to do so soon. The idea would be to do it in parallel with the index, although they do not rule out that it could be before. At the end of August, the Generalitat sent all the documentation to be able to declare them and limit the prices, and maintained that its launch would be “immediate”, but from the ministry they cooled it, as the ARA already anticipated . In addition, the ministry points out that a document is still missing from the Government: “A specific plan that includes measures to correct the imbalances [de les zones tensades]as well as a schedule to deploy it,” the ministry said in a statement.
However, Capella has not answered whether this blockage in the deployment of the state housing law, negotiated and agreed with ERC and EH Bildu, may hinder a possible investiture of Pedro Sánchez. In this regard, the Tenants’ Union, which has urged Minister Sánchez to “unblock now” the regulation of rental prices in Catalonia, has asked the Catalan parties “to make it a condition for an investiture” of Sánchez.
More trains to Lleida
The little satisfaction of the Generalitat has come from the part of infrastructures. Capella has announced an agreement with the ministry to double the frequency of the Rodalies R12 line, which connects Lleida with Barcelona and passes through cities such as Cervera and Manresa, before the end of the year. The ministry will install the trains, while the Generalitat will dedicate two million annually to cover extra expenses, such as the salaries of the train drivers, ministry sources told ARA.
At the same time, a commitment has been made to “improve the response time of incidents” in Rodalies. This promise comes after a few months marked by a multitude of problems in Rodalies, with serious incidents such as the one in Gavà in May. The ministry has confirmed that the Spanish government has “committed to send them a report” on this case to find out what happened.
In addition, both have also addressed the money that remains pending from the famous third additional provision of the Statute of the year 2008, which amounted to 759 million euros, according to calculations by the Generalitat. Of these, 359 million remain to be paid: 200 million this year, which the ministry says will be paid “in the coming weeks”, and 159 million in 2024.
914 million for roads
The State undertook to transfer 914 million euros as part of the negotiation of the general State budgets for 2023 for the improvement of four infrastructures: 250 for the improvement of the connectivity of the AP- 2 and the AP-7; 260 for the improvement of the Pyrenean Axis (N-260); 384 million to pacify the N-II and the C-32 in the Maresme, and 20 million for two railway interchanges to connect the Generalitat’s railway network with Rodalies in Volpelleres and Hospital General. After the meeting this Wednesday, it was agreed that within one month the text of the agreements will be finalized so that the bureaucratic procedure can be started and the annuity can be executed this year.
The novelty of these agreements is that the execution method for these items is the so-called management orders, which already applies to Euskadi. In short: the Generalitat executes the work and the State pays for it. In other words, the main role rests with the Generalitat, so that the State cannot ignore it. Regarding the B-40, the ministry and the Government signed the protocol and are confident of being able to close the agreement in the fall.
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