Vice president warns government stability is ‘at risk’

Catalonia’s vice president has warned that the stability of the Government is "at risk." 

In an interview with media outlet 'El Punt Avui', Jordi Puigneró of Junts per Catalunya, the junior coalition partner currently in power in the Catalan government, called into question the investiture deal with far-left pro-independence party CUP after no deal could be reached with them over the 2022 Catalan budget. 

Instead, ERC, the senior party of the current Catalan government, struck a deal with left-wing En Comú Podem, a party not explicitly in favour of independence. Junts refused to participate in the negotiations with ECP despite the fact that they run the economy ministry under Jaume Giró and the initial 2022 spending plan was drawn up by their party.

"We have an agreement with ERC that needs to be complied with," Puigneró said, yet still he wondered "how stable it is" if the senior coalition partner’s pact with the CUP "no longer exists." 

"What is at stake is stability, whether the government really has it or not," he said, openly questioning the relationship between fellow pro-independence parties ERC and CUP. 

Puigneró also criticized ERC’s deal with the Spanish government over language quotas in the audiovisual law, an agreement that was brokered in exchange for ERC facilitating the 2022 Spanish budget. 

The deal over the audiovisual law will see a quota of 6% of production be made in minority languages, but this will not affect international streaming platforms and content creators such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, or HBO Max. 

Puigneró, whose party JxCat is highly sceptical over engaging with any sort of dialogue or cooperation with Spanish parties or indeed any groups not explicitly in favour of a split from Spain, regards the deal over the audiovisual law as “crumbs”. On the contrary, ERC's position is that dialogue with Spain is generally a good way of solving issues and conflicts, including over the independence question. 

In the midst of the debate over linguistic immersion in the school system, Puigneró believes that it is “very important” to protect the Catalan language. 

Earlier this year, major cracks appeared in the stability of the current government over the issue of expanding Barcelona airport. 

Puigneró and Junts per Catalunya were in favour of the project, but ERC positioned themselves in favour of a deal but only in the case that it wouldn’t be harmful to nearby protected environmental areas. Eventually, the deal, which required consensus between the Catalan and Spanish governments, collapsed. 

The vice president reaffirmed that “everyone” must be on the same page with whatever deal arises, and lamented the position of the ERC, which "clearly goes against the economic progress of Catalonia."

He also warned that should Barcelona’s airport not be expanded, then Catalonia's international air hub "will be Madrid airport."

The current Catalan government has only been in power since May, after the most recent election took place on February 14, 2021.