Negotiations over draft budget for 2016 still stuck

Barcelona (CNA).- Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, warned that pro-independence radical left CUP will be “destroyers”if they continue to be carried along by “ideological prejudices”and maintain their veto on the bill. He made this statement this Friday amid the negotiation deadlock over the draft budget for 2016. Although Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras, assured that the bill he presented was “realistic”and “socially committed”, pro-independence radical left CUP considered it insufficient and still too “autonomic”, and claimed that the draft didn’t “reflect the pro-independence declaration proposal”approved by the Catalan Chamber on the 9^th of November. Thus, CUP presented their veto and urged the Catalan Government to present a new draft which would include the anti-capitalists’ proposals, such as disobeying the deficit target imposed by the Spanish executive and carrying out a deeper reform of the tax system.

“We are in a key moment [in which we have] to decide whether we continue to be constructive or not, whether we think of the most vulnerable or are the most intransigent”, stated Puigdemont. “The choice is easy but it requires great responsibility and involves us all”, he added. The Catalan President emphasised that “on the day after a defeat there is always a generation of constructive people willing to amend what the destroyers damaged”and expressed his confidence in civil society in the event that politicians fail. 

In a similar vein, Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté accused CUP of “tensioning” the debate with their veto on the draft budget. She emphasised that CUP have an agreement with pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, the main party in the Parliament, through which they committed to “guarantee the parliamentarian stability”. “This stability applies to processing the most important law, which is the budget”, emphasised Munté in an interview with Catalunya Radio. She admitted that if CUP refuses to pass the bill, then the anti-capitalists “will be absolutely unfulfilling the stability agreement”. However, she assured that she is “convinced that the draft budget is favourable” and stated there is still “time to dialogue and continue negotiating”.

Puigdemont meets with pro-independence associations

This Friday, in order to discuss CUP’s veto on the bill, Puigdemont and Junqueras decided to meet with representatives from the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural, which co-organised the last years’ massive pro-independence rallies on the 11^th of September, and the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI). Òmnium Cultural’s President, Jordi Cuixart, described the meeting as “informal” and assured that he is convinced that “Catalonia will have the best budget possible”. He also emphasised that the association over which he presides, which promotes Catalan culture and language, “focuses on sharing the republic that is going to be built with everyone’s efforts”.