The weeks go by and the Catalan budget agreement still hasn't arrived. Together for Catalonia (Junts) states that it remains ready to negotiate the public accounts with the government, but warns that the decision by the governing Republican Left (ERC) will be between a budget deal "against self-government and that wants to bury the independence process, with the Catalan Socialists (PSC); or one that consolidates the process and recovers the objectives of the legislature of the 52% [pro-independence votes]", with Junts. The party spokesperson, Josep Rius, reiterated on several occasions the party's offer to unblock its support for the 2023 budget, as long as they include an "ambitious, fair and equitable country model, which eases the fiscal plunder that we suffer and that responds to the needs of the country".
Rius criticized that the situation would not have come to this point "if the president of the Generalitat had fulfilled the legislature agreement with Junts". If this were the case, he said, "today there would already be a budget" and "there would not be the instability that is generated by this government with 33 deputies". The Junts vice-president also emphasized that "with 33 seats they are not going anywhere" and criticized that ERC "has lacked a culture of government in this negotiation, they believed that they were the executive of 80% and they are actually that of 21%." However, Josep Rius insisted that they do not set any deadline for the closure of the negotiation, but rather are maintaining an outstretched hand "in accordance with the measures that we passed on to them". As for the fact that they have not held a meeting with the government since December 22nd and asked if there is a meeting planned this week to address the budget negotiation, Rius stressed that this "is a question for president Aragonès" and that it must be the ERC politician who makes the move, given that for now he is not aware of any new meeting. "We are ready to continue negotiating, many working meetings have been held and there has been progress in several aspects, although there are others" where there is no understanding, he added.
For this reason, the Junts spokesperson reiterated that the dilemma that ERC has is between a pact "to retreat and let it pass, or move forward" with the independence process. "The PSC includes in its offer a freeze on foreign policy, following the guidelines of the PSOE, and this is very serious", he stressed. According to Rius, the Socialists want to take advantage of the budget to "bury the process, taking advantage of the weakness of ERC's position once Sánchez had passed his own Spanish budget". The other option is to "approve a budget together that consolidates the process".
"We'll be there" on January 19th
In response to the unitary call by the Council of the Republic, ANC and Òmnium to protest against the Spanish-French summit that will take place in Barcelona on January 19th, Junts conveys "full support". "Of course, we'll be there", explained Josep Rius. In this context, the spokesperson asserts that "prime minister Sánchez wanted to organize a funeral for the independence process with Macron to explain to Europe that this is now over and he has shot himself in the backside". "It is contemptuous of the pro-independence parliamentary majority and the 80% of Catalans who want the conflict to be resolved through self-determination," he said. The protest, for Rius, must serve to "remind the head of the Spanish executive that the process will not be over until we are independent". The Junts vice-president had strong words in response to Félix Bolaños's statement stating that the independence process was over and that there is no longer "any problem" in Catalonia: "A minister like him cannot make these statements, unless he is a fool and irresponsible." "Seeing this, they are not working for reunion, but for ridicule, humiliation and repression," he replied.