In his traditional Christmas speech, the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, has set the course for the next political course with two "country" priorities.

The first is to open a social debate so that Catalonia agrees on the "proposal for clarity" to present to the Government of Pedro Sánchez to be able to hold a legal and agreed referendum on self-determination.

A proposal that the ERC leader already raised last September during the general policy debate in Parliament and that he hopes to transfer shortly to the bilateral negotiating table.

The second measure for this new year is to reach a "broad" agreement in the coming months at the latest to approve the Generalitat's budgets that allow it to meet "social and economic demands."

Two priorities with which Aragonès, who has sought a solemn staging, which was more reminiscent of the times of Jordi Pujol than of the mandates of Carles Puigdemont and Joaquim Torra, wants to consolidate a minority Catalan Executive, responding to the independence demands with the completion of the referendum and to the expectations of the economic and business sectors with public accounts that provide new investments and stability.

In his defense of the referendum, the path that ERC clings to after renouncing the unilateral one after the failure of the procés, Aragonés has once again assured, contradicting electoral arithmetic, that there is a vast majority of Catalan society that wants to decide the relationship of Catalonia with the whole of Spain at the polls.

"In Catalan society there is a broad consensus on the need to resolve the conflict with the State by voting. For this reason, this 2023 the Generalitat will promote a debate, a great conversation, with the whole of society, to shape and visualize this consensus ", said the president from the Library of Catalonia, the place chosen this year for the institutional message.

Aragonès has considered essential "a great agreement in Catalonia that offers us all the strength and all the internal legitimacy to be defended before the State as a country proposal. A great agreement in Catalonia that is explainable and comparable at the international level and that is scrupulously democratic because it seeks nothing other than to empower the citizenry".

For this reason, he believes that in Catalonia it is necessary to "have a clear horizon" and be aware of the obstacles and difficulties that may arise, as he assures has been done this year with the defense of Catalan in schools, renewing a consensus that he considers essential for make the Catalan language advance again.

In this sense, he has defended the dialogue with the Government of Pedro Sánchez and has stressed that the only way is to persevere despite the criticism of a sector of the independence movement, since it is beginning to "bear fruit."

"It was said that it was impossible to repeal sedition, it was said that it was impossible to modify the crime of embezzlement. And today, the crime of sedition for which the political prisoners were convicted no longer exists and many of the aspects of the embezzlement that, manipulating the current law, made it possible to pursue 1-O," he claimed.

THE BUDGETS

In the midst of negotiating the accounts of the Generalitat, which has already agreed with the Commons and is negotiating with the PSC, waiting for JxCat to make a move, Aragonès stressed that "the great part of the work is done, all that is needed is political will to make it possible.

The ERC leader has underlined the supposed social nature of the budget project, of which he has highlighted that "they reinforce the health system with 1,000 million euros. Prioritizing primary care", and that they update, after 12 years, all benefits of the Generalitat, something that he has defined as one of the most important social advances in recent years.

Likewise, he has stressed that they unite an important consensus because "for the first time" they are agreed with unions and employers.

In addition to having the support of the third social sector, the agricultural unions and the main cultural entities: "There is a broad consensus that it is necessary to promote and move forward with this budget and that citizens can begin to benefit without losing a single another day," he said.

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