Catalan president calls snap regional elections after budget failure

The president of Catalonia’s regional government, Pere Aragonès of the separatist Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) party, called for early elections to be held on Wednesday, 12 May, in the Spanish region after a majority of lawmakers in the regional parliament rejected his budget proposal for the year.

The 2024 budget for Catalonia was rejected by the Catalan parliament on Wednesday with a majority of the right-wing separatist party Together for Catalonia (JxCat), ERC’s rival, the far-right VOX party, the third largest force in Madrid, the left-wing En Comú Podem party, and the centre-liberal Cs and PPC parties voting against it, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

The amendments to the budget presented by the ERC were approved with 68 votes in favour and 67 against by the ERC and the alliance of the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) and the Christian Democratic Party Units (PSC-Units).

VOX parliamentary spokesman Joan Garriga rejected the draft budget, denouncing the “fiscal hell” that he said existed in Catalonia and calling for a “big cut” in public spending by the Generalitat.

Meanwhile, the CUP’s deputy spokesman in the Catalan parliament, Xavier Pellicer, accused Aragonès of serving the interests of the Spanish government.

“We don’t know if (Spanish Prime Minister) Pedro Sánchez’s master in Catalonia is Salvador Illa (the PSC leader) or you,” he said, referring to the agreements reached with Madrid in exchange for the ERC’s support for the new Sánchez government.

The latest polls predict a PSC victory, with a 4.9-point lead over the ERC, while JxCat, the party of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who lives in self-exile in Brussels, would be the party to lose the most support if the Catalan election were held today

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)