The Minister of Culture and number 2 of Comuns-Front Ampli per Barcelona in the general elections, Ernest Urtasun, defended this Friday that, if the Broad Front obtains enough strength to form part of a potential government after 29N, his political space will propose to renounce the project to bring the high-speed line between Barcelona and Madrid to 350 kilometers per hour, with the aim of allocating those resources to Rodalies.
Urtasun made these statements during an informative breakfast organized by Nueva Economía Forum, and presented by the Minister of Social Rights and campaign spokesperson for the Broad Front, Pablo Bustinduy. There, the minister maintained that the expansion of high-speed rail must be rationalized and that the priority is to organize investments, not to accelerate a journey that, in his opinion, does not respond to the urgent needs of daily mobility in Catalonia.
“What good does it do us to arrive a few minutes earlier in Madrid, while most Catalans continue to lose hours and hours waiting for Rodalies?” he asked. He then stressed that, if his party has enough strength after the elections, “every euro of the 1,333 million already committed for the Madrid-Barcelona line to go at 350 kilometers per hour will go to Rodalies.”
Possible Transport portfolio and reorganization of the railway model
Asked if he would put himself forward to assume the Ministry of Transport in a new Executive, Ernest Urtasun replied that he would not mind and that it is a portfolio that “would suit” Spain if managed by the Broad Front. “We have been in the State Government for practically eight years now and, therefore, we are prepared to manage any area of management that corresponds,” he added.
Regarding railways, the minister stated that recovering confidence in high-speed rail involves investigating what happened, but also rethinking the model and increasing investment in maintenance. In this context, he considered it necessary to “reverse the consequences of liberalization,” rethink the separation of Adif and Renfe, and revoke outsourcing in network maintenance.
Rejection of the airport and priority for the commuter rail network
Urtasun reiterated his commitment to strengthening Rodalies over other large projects, and pledged to accelerate the transfer of the network to the Generalitat, while also proposing to halt the liberalization of the network and rethink the R-Aeroport. “A shuttle for tourists cannot have priority over the trains that people use,” he pointed out.
The minister insisted that the strengthening of Rodalies will also depend on “changing investment priorities” in matters such as the Barcelona Airport, a project to which he again expressed his rejection.
Coalition government, corruption and housing
Asked if, after the railway accident and the change of climate in the campaign, it is still possible to re-establish the current Government, Urtasun replied yes, although he warned that “there will be a game if the Broad Front gets a great result.” In relation to the latest information on alleged cases of corruption surrounding the PSOE, he defended the revalidation of the progressive coalition, but questioned the way in which the socialists are managing this crisis.
“We don't like at all what has been said by the socialist orbit when cases of corruption have emerged, which is that zero corruption is inevitable. First, because it's not true, and second, because it conveys an image of very little confidence,” he said. Urtasun also claimed that his political space, in its time in institutions, has not registered cases of corruption.
Regarding housing, he stated that it continues to be one of the Broad Front's campaign priorities and wished success to the general strike on November 11, whose central theme is precisely this issue. He also recalled that, the following day, the housing decrees will be voted on in the Permanent Deputation of the Congress of Deputies, and asked Junts for their support: “To be worthy of the interests of the people of Catalonia is to vote in favor.”
Call for Catalan in Congress
Finally, Urtasun warned that a hypothetical PP and Vox government would dedicate itself to “persecuting” Catalan, as he claims the regional governments of the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands have done. In addition, he criticized Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo's proposal to reverse the possibility of using co-official languages in Congress.
Along these lines, he addressed the PP candidate for Barcelona, Xavier García Albiol, directly: “He who says he wants to go and defend Catalans and Catalonia, is the first measure he plans to take to eliminate the use of Catalan in Congress?”
