The Government continues to add support in the absence of 48 hours to finish the debate on the General State Budgets in the Congress of Deputies. The last formation to close the agreement was, this Tuesday, EH Bildu: it will vote yes to the State accounts in exchange for maintaining the 2% cap on rent updates until December 2023 and transferring Traffic powers to the Government from Navarre.
With the support of the abertzales, the Budgets already have 175 secured votesTherefore, they guarantee the approval of the annual accounts. Right now they have the votes of the PSOE (120), Unidas Podemos (33), PNV (6), EH Bildu (5), PDeCAT (4), Coalición Canaria (2), Más País (2), Compromís (1) , PRC (1) and the former deputy of Podemos María Pita.
Given that the seat of the deputy of Unidas Podemos Alberto Rodríguez remains empty and the BNG has announced its abstention, the Government I wouldn’t need ERC votes to close the debate, although everything seems to indicate that he will also try to tie the 13 seats of the independentistas.
[El Gobierno cede ante Bildu y ERC y estudiará convertir en permanentes los impuestos a la banca y las energéticas]
In fact, Gabriel Rufián’s party announced this afternoon that the agreement is near, after PSOE and Unidas Podemos have guaranteed, through a transactional amendment to the budgets, investments amounting to 900 million euros for the railway network and roads in Catalonia.
In addition to this figure, ERC has tied a state contribution of 40 million euros for the Barcelona Metropolitan Transport Authority (in order to finance passenger transport), 60 million euros for Catalunya Media City, 7 million euros for scientific research and another 43 million for energy transition actions in Mossos d’Esquadra buildings and the renewal of the vehicle fleet.
The agreed amendments also include a mechanism to guarantee State investment in Catalonia. “There is still a long way to go before a definitive agreement can be taken for granted”, has indicated the spokesperson for ERC Budgets in Congress, Joan Margall, “during this process, we will be demanding in the defense of what we believe is fair for Catalonia and its people”. The Government is thus close to obtaining, also, the support of the 13 ERC deputies for the Budgets.
As for the budget agreement between the PSOE and Bildu, reached in the last few hours, it includes ten points ranging from the aforementioned rental limit, which will be approved in December, to the transfer of the Traffic and Road Safety competence to the Community Foral of Navarre before March 31 of 2023, reads the document.
[Podemos acusa a PSOE y PP de bloquear su Ley de Vivienda “a puerta cerrada y sin debate”]
Another of the agreements, as announced by EL ESPAÑOL, will be the foral management of the banking and electricity taxes before three months after the entry into force of the accounts. That is to say, that tax powers depend on the Basque Country and Navarra, not at the state level. Also included is maintaining the rise of a 15% in pensions non-contributory.
The increase in pensions, ensures the training, will result in an average increase of 70 euro per month and it will be included, together with the rent ceiling, in the royal decree-law to alleviate the effects of the war in Ukraine that will be approved at the end of the year.
In terms of Memory, it has been agreed to create a March 3 Memorial for the victims of the events in Vitoria in 1976, to finance an excavation on Mount Irulegi and to convert the Fort of San Cristóbal into a memorial.
In addition, the Basque independence group has agreed to increase €12 million social benefits for those affected by thalidomide, and incorporate 200 new MIR spaces (up to a total of 1,200 additional places in 2023), several ecological transition projects and greater investment in Basque universities.
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Source: Elespanol
