Catalan minister of Economy, Jaume Giró, gave a master class in geopolitics and macroeconomics to analyse the measures announced by the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, in the debate on the State of the Nation. Percentages and budgets of energy costs, investment in renewable energies, invoicing of the Rodalies service and, above all, a vision where he has always underlined the current context that conditions everything. From the outset, the final conclusion: "Pedro Sánchez's proposals that pretend to comply with inflation are completely disappointing and deficient. They are to raise the polls, it is an electioneering measure in the face of polls that are very unfavourable to him", said the minister in an interview for Rac1. And he has been even more explicit: "We have a Spanish president who is sliding towards demagogy and it is very worrying because we are playing the economy of the citizens".
"Why should they give me a free ticket?"
Next, the explanation of this emphatic phrase. Foremost, on the Spanish government’s main announcement, a free railway service he said that: "Renfe invoices 3,500 million euros per year and loses 400. What they have to do is to invest in railway infrastructure. I don't believe in free measures for everyone, regardless of their income. At this moment, to implement this type of measures, where any middle or upper middle class person can have certain services for free, seems to me like a populist attitude. You have to do it according to income brackets".
He gave himself as an example: "Fortunately, my life has been going well after a certain age, why should they give me a free ticket? These are not measures to lower inflation, but to raise the polls. Pedro Sánchez's electoral campaign will be very expensive for us". Beyond the announcement of this measure, putting it into practice may lead to another reality and Giró himself warns: "Madrid decides over Renfe and Rodalies, but the integrated ticket of Barcelona is decided by the local metropolitan transport authority and, therefore, I think it will remain at 50% bonus. Even the associations in favour of public transport are against this measure". We will have to see if Sánchez's announcement remains a dead letter, especially in Catalonia.
"Sánchez's taxes will end up being paid by all of us"
Giró, in a surgical portrait, broke down Pedro Sánchez's proposal. The second big issue is the temporary surcharge on large corporations, with which he hopes to raise 7,000 million euros in two years. This affects banking and large electricity companies. For the Catalan minister, that will also become a dead letter. "Soon there will be meetings to see how this tax will be passed on to customers. Sánchez's taxes will end up being paid by all of us". He added: "with taxes, there’s a difference between what you announce that you will collect and what you end up collecting. It already happened in 2021 with digital Internet services and the discharge on Spanish transactions that remained at 15% and 30% respectively of the total income he announced. These measures do not help the Catalan government’s finances, but the State’s". For that reason, he criticizes that the measures were again taken without considering Catalonia: "They take measures without taking us into account, they are unilateral, and the Catalan government will not see a single euro. Speaking clearly, after 2008’s restructuring, there are four or five agents in the financial market who have the vast majority of the market, as is the case for the electricity sector as well".
The interview, which has followed the guidelines of any novel 'beginning, knot and dénouement', has been left to develop the final part, the prepositive part. Minister, how do you fight inflation? "By cooling the economy. Inflation started with the exit of the pandemic. We all wanted to go out, and we had a savings. Inflation went up because consumption went up. Then, war inflates it, fuel and other energy prices form 70% of the increase. None of yesterday's measures addresses this. We must change the energy system. The most paradigmatic case is Germany, we are not implementing measures to advance a war that is doing so much damage in the heart of Europe. Most Catalan exports go to Germany and France. We must work to find a diplomatic solution to end the war because the economic tragedy will be huge, and also analyse the current energy system we have. In Catalonia we are lucky that there was a person like Pere Duran Farell. It is never a good time to make enemies with Algeria, but even less so now".
With this statement, Giró stressed the importance of context and knowing history to understand the present. He did not forget to mention Pere Duran, the Catalan businessman who made it possible for Spain not to depend on Russian gas with the network he established in 1965 from Algeria.
"Russia has the capacity to make us live through some very bad months in Europe"
French prime minister, Emmanuel Macron, already warned his country has entered an economic war. Far from catastrophist messages, Giró also prefers to speak realistically from the political leadership: "People who know me a bit know that I am a positive person, an optimist by nature. I say this because there are really difficult times ahead". He spoke about the pandemic, but obviously about the consequences of the war in Ukraine too: "We are two months away from winter. Historically, conflicts in which Russia has participated have been won in winter. In the meantime, what do we do? NATO should threaten Russia and sell as many weapons as possible. It is not my preference, but 90% of the wars end with a peace agreement. The United States do not have anything at stake, on the contrary, they favour war and ships carrying gas arrive every day in Barcelona. Europe must settle everything, despite these being rough times for European leadership. Before they called on Chancellor Merkel. Now, including the United Kingdom, we do not have great personalities. Russia has the capacity to make us live through some very bad months in Europe. In Catalonia, sadly, we are at 5% renewable energy, Europe is practically at 18%. The whole world is suffering for energy, there will be energy restrictions, and we will have to use what we have. All changes in favour of climate change must have a supply security that we do not have right now.
On budgets: "This year will be more difficult".
The main topic of the interview was the current economic crisis, but many other issues arose. First, the new budgets: "I would like to approve them in December, like last year. This year will be more difficult than the last. As municipal elections are to be held in 2023, it is likely there will be an electoral calculation. All groups, including the opposition, must be responsible in order to have new budgets. We will have to raise the salaries of civil servants, the bills of the departments go up because the costs go up, and I am already talking to the Spanish government to allow us to increase the deficit margin from 0.1 to 0.4 which would allow us an increase in new spending from one billion to almost two thousand, so that the Catalan departments can do what they are doing, public policies".
Giró, new catalan president?
The question was logical and is already being asked in many areas. Will Jaume Giró be the new presidential candidate for Catalonia? "It's a trick question because whatever you say, you end up not looking good. At the moment I'm the minister, and it personally fulfils me. I would like to have enough time to do government work and help the economy, citizens and businesses get a little better". RAC1 asked him to be more explicit, and he concluded: "Anyone who is dedicated to the political field and has a genuine vocation for public service, I am sure it would be difficult for anyone to say no when something is being proposed to them. No one has proposed anything to me, but there is so much time left that we will talk when the time comes".
"The capital deserves a mayor like Xavier Trias"
All were praises for Xavier Trias, possible mayoral candidate for Junts in the city of Barcelona: "The capital deserves a mayor like him, it deserves to value the commitment of many people who do not need it in order to serve their country. It would be very good news to me". Abpput the Catalan president of the Parliament, Laura Borràs, the minister asks that the presumption of innocence be respected, as did spokesperon Míriam Nogueras. "Between Laura Borràs and the Spanish state I believe Laura Borràs. It remains to be seen. Being a pro-independence supporter does not have to condemn you to anything or free you from anything. I don't know the inner workings of the case, president Borràs is in a judicial procedure, I have to trust her word".
He calls the espionage of the State "Torrentes for hire".
Ultimately, he talked about himself. "My family and friends know that I was spied on and some media such as Interviú, I think in the year 2013, published some fake reports with police stamps, with my cell phone number, stating that I was one of the four leaders of the procés civil plot". Giró was the only one who has reported former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo and the PP deputy Alícia Sánchez-Camacho for disclosure of secrets, criminal organization and embezzlement.
The Prosecutor's Office will investigate him and, today from RAC1, he explained an anecdote about the espionage he suffered: "On August 17th, 2017, the day of the attacks, I was in the small house I have in the Empordà. The day before I had dinner with Aitor Esteban and his wife, and on the 17th they came to have an apéritif. As from early in the morning there was a man with tergal pants, long-sleeved shirt and camera photographing the porch. We could see the absolute inefficiency of these paid Torrentes [Torrente is the title of a series and the name of the main character, who is a satirical portrait of an incompetent policeman]. Then I called Police major Trapero at three o'clock in the afternoon to explain this and sent him the photos He did not answer me. I went to the hotel where this character stayed, and got his name and telephone number and I wanted to make them known. After the attack, logically, I did not bother Major Trapero again. I explain this because you asked me, but I do not feel I am a martyr. I do note that they also went against the company directors. He was not a policeman, the police subcontracted detectives. There was a group of active policemen and as they were not enough, they subcontracted other people. I did not report it.