Together for Catalonia (Junts) is not revealing its intentions. In the middle of the Catalan budget debate, the party has not yet made it clear whether it will negotiate and pass the accounts presented by Pere Aragonès's Republican Left (ERC) government after the breakdown of the coalition between the two parties a month ago. This Tuesday, in a press conference, the spokesperson Mònica Sales did not give many details on the issue, and only limited herself to guaranteeing repeatedly that Junts will act responsibly and work seriously to be at all the meetings which are called, but asserted that it is up to the ERC executive to take the next step in the negotiation. "There is a lack of specific detail", assured Sales, explaining that at last week's budget meeting, her parliamentary group only went along to listen and it still needs "more information" on the government's intentions to be able to decide.
However, the spokesperson made one thing clear: Junts is not responsible. Sales's assertion comes just after ERC once again put pressure on Borràs and Turull to guarantee their 'yes' to the 2023 accounts and not hinder negotiations. "Stop putting the focus on Junts," demanded the spokesperson.
Not only that, but Mònica Sales also put out a general alert over the scenario that her party consider as the most predictable in terms of the passing of the budget. Despite not clarifying the direction of the Junts vote, the spokesperson recalled that last week the government met with the alternative left Comuns and this Monday it did so with the Catalan Socialists (PSC), while this morning, ERC president Oriol Junqueras "lifted the veto on the socialists". In Junts's view, everything points in one direction: "We will soon see the tripartite working at full capacity in Madrid, and in Barcelona it will be doing the same in Parliament". Sales thus warned about the possibility of a political regime based on "mutual favours" that will include a triple approval of budgets: those of Pedro Sánchez in Spain, those of Colau-Collboni in the Barcelona City Council and those of Pere Aragonès in the Generalitat of Catalonia.
Junts "states the reality" of its loss of confidence in Aragonès
Junts also once again stressed its argument that the budget that ERC has on the table today are not those drawn up by the former Junts economy minister Jaume Giró, and that the current context is not the same either. "Now there is a single-party government, which only has 33 deputies", he said. In fact, the party has presented a motion to be debated on Thursday which aims to show the "loss of confidence" in Pere Aragonès. As Sales put it, beyond allowing Junts to wedge itself into the opposition, the motion only "states the reality". The party is still negotiating with the other parliamentary groups to find out what support the text might achieve.