Catalonia and Madrid will decide on the management of the main airports: Barcelona-El Prat and Madrid-Barajas

Madrid (ACN).- Catalonia will have “a determinant participation” in the management of the El Prat airport in Barcelona. The Spanish Parliament approved today a motion asking the Spanish Government to modify the role of the Spanish Airport Authority (AENA) with regard to the main airports; Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat. They are the only two airports in Spain with more than 30 million passengers per year. This modification foresees that the autonomous communities’ governments, the local powers (like Barcelona City Council) and the private sector would also have a say in the management of their main airports. Until now, AENA, which depends on the Spanish Ministry for Public Works, was deciding on all the aspects in a unilateral way. A partial decentralisation of the airport model and managing was a historical vindication of Catalonia’s public powers and the private sector. In fact, a decentralised model with private sector participation works in the case of airports in Paris or London. The motion was presented by the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) and by the Catalan Green Socialist Party (ICV). It was approved by their votes and the votes of the ruling Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) and all the minority groups. Only the Conservative and Spanish Nationalist People’s Party (PP) voted against the motion and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) abstained. A similar motion from CiU was already approved last September, but the Spanish Government did not follow it.

The agreement comes a day after the meeting between the Catalan President, Artur Mas from the CiU, and the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero from the PSOE. After the meeting, only Mas gave a press conference and he talked about Barcelona’s airport. Mas said that CiU was not opposing future plans to privatise the Spanish airports or some of them, for instance Barcelona-El Prat and Madrid-Barajas. However, he added that he vindicated for Catalonia to have a “determinant role” in Barcelona’s airport managing or, in case of being privatised, in the public company organising the competition and in the one managing the concession.

The motion approved today foresees that Madrid and Barcelona’s airport will be managed by public consortiums, with the participation of the private sector and the public powers at local, autonomous and state level. These consortiums would for instance set the airport taxes and plan new routes, key aspects to compete internationally, attract new flights and position the airport strategically. In case of privatisation, the text foresees to repeat this same structure in companies managing the concession and organising the public competitions.

A similar motion from CiU was already approved 5 months ago at the Spanish Parliament, also with the votes from all the groups, PNV included, except the PP’s, who voted against. The motion, like today’s, asked the Spanish Government to let Catalan institutions “participate in the deciding majority” of Barcelona airport. Back then, the Spanish Government was presenting a modification of the airport managing model that foresaw 51% of the votes for the Spanish Government and the rest being split among the other administrations and the private sector. Therefore, the Spanish Government would still have a blocking majority and, de facto, the decentralisation will be useless. This is why both motions insist in the terms “determinant participation”. Although the ruling PSOE voted for both motions, the Spanish Government did not change its position. The situation may or may not change with today’s motion.