The climate of confrontation and distrust between the Government and the Generalitat of Catalonia, but also the strategic differences within the two executives between their respective partners (PSOE and Podemos, on the one hand; ERC and JxCat, on the other) , they

ruined

an expansion of the El Prat airport that was budgeted at 1,700 million euros.

The project, on the other hand, had been well received by almost all Catalan business and industrial sectors, for which it represents a boost for commerce and tourism in that autonomous community. Both the

Barcelona Chamber of Commerce

and the

Foment del Treball

employers' association

applauded the agreement for the expansion at the time. The 1,700 million euros of planned investment was twice the amount destined by the State to Catalonia in 2020. The expansion was going to last about ten years,

would generate about 85,000 jobs

and would raise the weight of El Prat until the 8th, 9% of the Catalan GDP.

An investment designed to turn the

aerodrome of the Catalan capital into an international hub

, as the employers and the economic sector have been demanding for years as a measure to reactivate the battered economy of this autonomy. However, the announcement made yesterday in Barcelona by the Minister of Transport and Mobility, Raquel Sánchez, of suspension of the expansion of the airport due to lack of support in the Government confirmed the end, at least momentary, of a project that was born burdened by the political discrepancies.

In this drastic decision of the Government, the press conference held on Wednesday morning by the ERC spokesperson, Marta Vilalta, was decisive, announcing that

the party and some republican members of the Government were going to attend the demonstration that will

be held

on September 19

in Barcelona against the reform project, called by environmental associations and some town councils in the area in defense of La Ricarda, a wetland area that would disappear with the expansion.

In Moncloa and in the direction of the PSC, different sources consulted confirm, they understood these words as the

definitive confirmation by the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, of the breaking of the agreement

reached on August 2 for the works in El Prat. So they decided to make the public announcement of the suspension to point out the "responsibility" of the Republicans in the abrupt end of the operation and leave the ball on the roof of the Generalitat.

This is the first major disagreement between the Socialists and ERC, a

few days after the bilateral negotiation table is held in Barcelona

and when the independence movement demands the presence of Pedro Sánchez. The reaction of the 'president' Aragonès to the announcement of Minister Sánchez showed the mutual distrust of two governments that know that, despite everything, they need each other. "It has been verified that AENA and the Spanish Government were only willing to make the expansion if it was as they intended from the beginning. This confirms the need for Catalonia to decide its political future, we cannot accept this model of permanent imposition", wrote on his Twitter account.

Despite this crossing of accusations between Moncloa and the Palau de la Generalitat, ERC's change of position with respect to the agreement reached on August 2, which Aragonès celebrated at that time as a very important investment for Catalonia, is

conditioned above all by the war that maintains within the independence movement with JxCat

and the need not to appear as the priority partner of the Government of Spain.

In recent months, the

ERC

leadership

has received complaints and pressures from territorial leaders and party militants who do not understand their support for the Executive

of Pedro Sánchez and who have warned them that if they do not mark clear distances there is a danger of losing support of a significant part of its voters.

Likewise, the position radically against the CUP and the commons of Ada Colau to the expansion of the airport designed by AENA, alleging the environmental impact in the Delta del Llobregat conditioned the

change of opinion of the party chaired by Oriol Junqueras.

With the Generalitat's budgets still to be agreed, after several years with the accounts extended, the intention of Aragonès is to reach an agreement with these two formations to dilute the "neoliberal" influence of the Minister of Ecomomia, Jaume Giró.

In their attempt to gradually configure a sovereignist and left-wing majority, the Republicans cannot afford, if they want to seek the support of the CUP and the commons for the 2022 budgets, a

confrontation with the two formations in such a sensitive folder and media such as the expansion of El Prat

, and that even opens cracks within the central government between the PSOE and Podemos.

The rejection of the mayor of Barcelona to the AENA project has found the support of the Podemos ministers,

and in what is a clear provocation to the socialists, this Thursday the Minister of Labor,

Yolanda Díaz, will visit with Colau La Ricarda ,

the natural area threatened by the airport reform.

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