Junqueras “totally” rejects new elections in Catalonia if there is no agreement over the budget

Article published at Catalan News Agency, 6th June 2016.

Barcelona (CNA).- Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras called for pro-independence parties ‘Junts Pel Sí’and radical left CUP to “make the most of the 72 seats majority”they have in the 135-seat Parliament rather than thinking about potential new elections. Junqueras made this statement this Monday in an interview with Catalunya Radio, amid the deadlock over the draft budget for 2016, which CUP have refused to support on account of it being“too autonomic”. Junqueras “totally”dismissed calling for new elections in Catalonia even if CUP maintains their veto on the bill. Regarding the possibility of finding new partners in the Parliament to negotiate the budget with, Junqueras closed this door as it would mean “renouncing the pro-independence roadmap”.“Whatever happens”on Wednesday, when the draft budget will be discussed in the Catalan Parliament, “the Government will continue to work with the skills at its disposal”, stated Junqueras and assured that he is already working on the budget for 2017.

Junqueras insisted that CUP’s veto on the draft budget corresponds to “political mistrust” rather than economic reasons. “We talked little about numbers in the last negotiations”, assured the Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office. Thus, Junqueras urged the radical lefties to separate the debate between political trust and economy as passing the bill “would represent renouncing 870 million euros allocated to hospitals and schools”. Keeping the veto will also mean “slowing down” the implementation of structures of state such as the Catalan Tax Agency and the Department for Foreign Affairs.

Although he believes that there is still time for CUP to change their mind and withdraw their veto in order to process the draft budget on Wednesday, Junqueras assured that he is already working on the bill for 2017, which will be “socially ambitious, rigorous and help the productive economy”.

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