Catalan president hopes deal to dejudicialize politics in place before 2023

Catalan president Pere Aragonès hopes the deal reached with the Spanish cabinet last week during the ‘dialogue table’ meeting, will be in place before the end of the year. 

"Before the year is over, we have to have the deal in place," Pere Aragonès said on Tuesday during his last speech before the summer break. "There should be specific deals and legislative changes in the process to dejudicialize politics," he added.

The Spanish government has recently stated that they do not have a majority in Congress to change legislation regarding sedition and rebellion in the Spanish criminal code, despite being open to modifying it in 2020.

Aragonès considered these claims false as he is "assured" the majority exists with "discreet work and willingness everyone can agree on something," he said.  

However, "there should not be more imprisonments or people in exile because of their political acts," he told reporters. 

During his speech, the Catalan leader also urged the Spanish government to call for an independence referendum. He proposed for the central executive to call the vote to see whether the support for self-determination has dropped or not.

"If they are so confident they will win, then they should put the ballots, if they do not put them is because they know they will not win," he argued. 

"We are far away from reaching a solution to the political conflict as our positions are far away. And they are distant because we keep defending what we asked for from the first day: self-determination and amnesty," the Catalan leader explained.

Future projects

During his last press conference, Aragonès explained the projects the government will face in the last quarter of the year. 

One of the most important will be offering free lessons for the last course of preschool, P3. Once this is achieved, education for those aged 0 to 3 years will be free in Catalonia.

The government is also expecting to sign the industrial national agreement, to make sure the territory has ways to reindustrialize manufacturing. 

On this occasion, the executive will continue working in Catalonia’s Media City in the city of Sant Adrià de Besòs, next to Barcelona. The digital and audiovisual content creation hub will be located in the ‘Les Tres Xemeneies’ heritage factory. 

It will be the creation of a public energy company, which will see several Catalan ministries work during the last months of the year.

Regarding the 2023 Catalan budget, Aragonès also addressed the issue. His intention is that the spending plan is greenlighted in the Catalan parliament with a vast majority, with the support of those who made him president, and the anti-austerity En Comú Podem party.