The ‘comuns’ have focused the Diada’s claim on the need to advance towards Catalonia’s energy sovereignty, as well as industrial and food sovereignty. In a conference given on the occasion of September 11, the president of En Comú Podem in Parliament, Jessica Albiachhas urged the Government to “regain control” in the face of the “systemic” crisis that the country is experiencing, marked by the war in Ukraine, the climate emergency and inflation.
Albiach urges the Government to “regain control”
The conference, entitled Empower Catalonia, has avoided the independence framework and has urged the Government to accelerate the energy transition and the implementation of renewables in the current context. In the auditorium of the Cibernàrium, in Barcelona, Albiach was accompanied by Joan Mena, candidate for mayor of Sabadell, Janet Sanz, deputy mayor of Barcelona, Laura Campos, mayor of Montcada i Reixac, and Lluís Mijoler, mayor of El Prat de Llobregat, who have placed the municipal emphasis on transformations in the face of the climate emergency.
Albiach has placed energy sovereignty as the priority in the negotiation of the Generalitat’s budgets, together with the strengthening of public services. “Catalonia is weak, vulnerable, energy dependent. Only 19% of energy is renewable, compared to 40% in the State”, he pointed out. The match marks the year 2030 for Catalonia to produce 100% of the energy it consumes.
Albiach calls for a pact between the countryside and the city so that only the first does not pay the cost of the transition
Albiach stressed that this must be achieved through the massive implementation of solar panels on rooftops, especially in cities, and through a “great country agreement” between rural and urban areas, as well as companies. “There has to be a pact between the cities and the territory because it should not always be the countryside that pays the cost of the transition,” he pointed out.
Among the concrete proposals of the party are that where the energy is produced its cost is lower, and adapt the bureaucracy to make it more flexible and facilitate the implementation of solar panels on roofs. Albiach has recognized that “the landscape is going to change” due to the implementation of renewables, but that this is preferable to the “abrupt” change that would also suffer due to the climate emergency.
Another of the proposals that Albiach has put on the table is electrify the economy and improve its efficiency, with a commitment to public transport and electric and shared vehicles. A National Agreement for Industry, relocation and support for the sector so that it does not continue to weaken are also other axes of the party’s proposal, as is the commitment to food sovereignty by guaranteeing the right of access to land and to public water.
As for public services, the second axis in view of the negotiation of the budgets for 2023, Albiach has urged to “leave triumphalist speeches behind” like the one he considers that the Minister of Education, Josep González-Cambray, has done at the beginning of the course. The leader of the ‘comuns’ has pointed out that Catalonia is the second community in school segregation and has also pointed to the data on school dropouts and the worsening of the results of the basic skills tests of 4th ESO.
Claim of the dialogue table
Albiach has also referred to the dialogue table between Catalonia and the Statewhich has recognized that it is advancing more slowly than they would like but has borne fruit such as shielding Catalan in the classroom and also progress in the use of the language in European institutions, which it has claimed as two of the proposals of its match.
Albiach: “Enough asking for forgiveness from the CUP and Junts, or the PP”
“We send a double message to the ERC and PSOE: we cannot waste any more time with sterile blockades. It is enough to apologize to each other, be it to the CUP and Junts, or to the Popular Party, for believing, for defending and for betting on the dialogue table”, said Albiach.
The president of the group in the Parliament has pointed out that the electoral logic must be abandoned, which she considers has limited the progress of the dialogue, and has urged the two parties to advance in the end of the judicialization, the recognition of Catalonia as a nation and the improvement of self-government and financing, as well as the holding of a referendum.
.
