In Catalonia, politics goes round in circles. Issues appear on the public agenda, the politicians lunge at them, most of the time in a way that is only useful to provoke some debate in the media, and, over time, they end up disappearing, as the public loses interest. The problem continues to exist, entrenched and preventing us Catalans from having at least a part of what we should, in all justice, have. There are two resounding examples of this.
The first is the fiscal deficit, a chronic situation that has led to the impoverishment of Catalonia and of Catalans. Of everybody, without exception, whichever party they vote for. The Catalan government's calculations say that this fiscal deficit is close to 20 billion euros a year. It is a figure that can be debated, under different calculation systems. The problem is insoluble when the state refuses to present annual taxation balances and the Spanish government keeps them under lock and key. Not since 2016 has the Spanish Hacienda sent information to the Generalitat to establish the calculations of the most recent years. Last year, the Catalan economy minister at the time, Jaume Giró, dared to make an estimate, using a calculation referring to the year 2019, and concluded that the fiscal deficit for that year stood at 20.196 billion euros, an amount equivalent to 8 .5% of the Catalan GDP.
The second case is that of the Catalan Rodalies commuter trains. To be more precise, of the transfer of this rail system from the state to the Catalan authorities to solve a long-standing grievance over the lack of investment and the perception that if the management depended on the Generalitat, the operation would be similar to that of the network it does run: the FGC, or as they are usually known, the Ferrocarrils. In the previous political life of Quim Nadal, as Socialist minister of Catalan territorial policy, when José Montilla was president of Catalonia, already put some effort into obtaining this transfer, but the Spanish government kept for itself the tracks, trains and stations, handing over only the timetables and the frequencies. And the money, of course. It was a complete scam, in which the stronger one ended up walking all over the weaker.
Now, the issue is back and president Aragonès has called for a country alliance to be articulated on it. He already knows that he has one, as other presidents have had before him on this matter of Rodalies. But Madrid does not understand alliances for one's country, but rather parliamentary political majorities, winning or losing votes in Congress and, above all, support that allows a government to take office. That's all they care about in the capital. If you want Rodalies, it's in those areas that the action should be taken place, if you want to win. The rest is only a decoy or a gesture without any importance.