Junqueras “totally” rejects new elections in Catalonia if there is no agreement over the budget

Barcelona (CNA).- Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras called for pro-independence parties ‘Junts Pel Sí’and radical left CUP to “make the most of the 72 seats majority”they have in the 135-seat Parliament rather than thinking about potential new elections. Junqueras made this statement this Monday in an interview with Catalunya Radio, amid the deadlock over the draft budget for 2016, which CUP have refused to support on account of it being “too autonomic”. Junqueras “totally”dismissed calling for new elections in Catalonia even if CUP maintains their veto on the bill. Regarding the possibility of finding new partners in the Parliament to negotiate the budget with, Junqueras closed this door as it would mean “renouncing the pro-independence roadmap”. “Whatever happens”on Wednesday, when the draft budget will be discussed in the Catalan Parliament, “the Government will continue to work with the skills at its disposal”, stated Junqueras and assured that he is already working on the budget for 2017.

Junqueras insisted that CUP’s veto on the draft budget corresponds to “political mistrust” rather than economic reasons. “We talked little about numbers in the last negotiations”, assured the Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office. Thus, Junqueras urged the radical lefties to separate the debate between political trust and economy as passing the bill “would represent renouncing 870 million euros allocated to hospitals and schools”. Keeping the veto will also mean “slowing down” the implementation of structures of state such as the Catalan Tax Agency and the Department for Foreign Affairs.

Although he believes that there is still time for CUP to change their mind and withdraw their veto in order to process the draft budget on Wednesday, Junqueras assured that he is already working on the bill for 2017, which will be “socially ambitious, rigorous and help the productive economy”.

The Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office “totally” dismissed calling for new elections in Catalonia, even if CUP decides to reject the draft budget. He admitted that by keeping their veto, CUP would be failing to fulfil the agreement of stability that they reached with ‘Junts Pel Sí’. He also said that it would be positive if the radical lefties leave the Catalan Government “a few months” before deciding on whether it is following the pro-independence proposal approved by the Parliament on the 9^th of November.

One of the main proposals that CUP wants to be included in the draft budget is disobedience of the deficit target imposed by Spain’s executive. Junqueras rejected adding this request to the bill and considered it “absolutely inapplicable” as Catalonia can’t refuse to pay the debt when it needs to go into debt again.