The investment of the State in Catalonia returns once again to the political arena. The report published this Monday by the General State Intervention (IGAE), which reflects that the State only executed 36% of the investments planned in the community, has raised blisters among the nationalist partners of the Government, who have been complaining for years about the mistreatment of the Infrastructure Executive.
The Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, has tried to calm things down this Wednesday with a meeting with the President of the Generalitat, Pere Argonés and the Minister of Territory and Vice President of the Government, Jordi Puigneró. Sources from the ministry explain that during the meeting the head of Transport extended a hand to the president of the Generalitat to accelerate the execution of the planned investments in the autonomous community.
In addition, Sánchez has reminded Aragonés of the “investment effort” of the Government in Catalonia since the Socialist Party came to power. The minister has pointed out that since June 2018, when the motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy triumphed, more than 3,700 million euros have been executed in autonomy, the largest investment figure in all of Spain. The meeting, which lasted between 20 and 30 minutes, took place after the presentation ceremony of the Google office in Barcelona.
Both parties have agreed on a new meeting of the infrastructure monitoring commission, where the situation of the execution of infrastructures in Catalonia and the need to speed up certain works in progress will be addressed.
The Generalitat has spent months demanding from the central government not only more investments in infrastructure, but also more powers. For example, Catalonia calls on the State to complete the transfer of the Cercanías rail service. A measure that is opposed by the workers of Renfe and Adif, who consider that in this way a split of both public companies would be taking place.
