There were serious faces in Catalonia’s parliament on Wednesday. CUP’s decision to reject the budget presented by the vice president and finance minister, Oriol Junqueras, even calling for him to present a new one, weighed heavily in the chamber. PSC leader, Miquel Iceta, made the most of the advantage, taking aim at the president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont: “Behind it all, what CUP is considering is an autonomous community budget or a break with legality. They are calling for coherence with the 9-N resolution, whether obeying it or not, the margin is narrow.” Puigdemont, implicitly addressing CUP, said a few minutes later: “The Catalan government does its homework, and it is very important that the homework left to it in the Catalan parliament is done so that we can continue working.” The independent left chose to jeer and talk about Sunday’s demonstration in Tortosa in defence of the Ebre.
The plenary session to debate all of the amendments to the budget presented by the Catalan government will take place on Wednesday and Thursday next week. Until then, Junts pel Sí (JxSí) and CUP have some time to negotiate a way out of the cul-de-sac. If CUP continues with its opposition to the budget -and as long as the rest of the parliamentary groups have also presented all of their proposed amendments- it would be the first time that the Catalan legislative chamber has rejected a budget presented by the government. In the previous term, ERC also presented amendment proposals to the 2015 budget of CiU, but withdrew them in extremis during the parliamentary debate that followed.
Aware of the situation, Puigdemont even criticised PSC for preventing the passing of the budget in its first passage through the Catalan parliament: “You presented amendments, but the budget has obvious qualities. Of the one billion more we have to spend, some 800 million is destined for social affairs. And you will have to explain who you are going to vote with to make that possible.”
And, once again addressing CUP, Puigdemont stressed that without a budget “there can be no improvement in minimum income, no action abroad, no major attention for schools.” “This Catalan government governs and carries out its commitments, there are lines that we have never deviated from,” he concluded, in an obvious appeal to the independent left to unblock the situation.
Once the session had ended, two “heavyweights” from the CUP parliamentary group, Anna Gabriel and Joan Garriga Nana, made their way to the area where Puigdemont and Junqueras have their offices.
