MADRID, 16 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The PNV spokesperson in Congress, Aitor Esteban, has recommended Sumar be more cautious with his criticism of the PSOE for having renounced the processing of the Budgets in 2024, because if they had been presented and had not been successful it could have meant the end of the legislature.
“What would have happened if it had failed (…) That would have been a sign that this Government is over,” Esteban said in statements to RNE’s ‘Parliament’ reported by Europa Press.
The minority partner of the coalition Government considers that the presentation of the 2024 Budgets should have been tried until the end to finance matters related to the social agenda, dependency or housing.
But Esteban has warned that the dynamics of the legislature, in which the Government does not always have guaranteed support, is why he advises “being cautious when talking about positions” and, above all, when making proposals.
“There are some drivers who like to exceed the speed limits. I think it is safer to comply with the limits,” said Esteban, to continue criticizing that the group led by Yolanda Díaz brings its laws and proposals to Congress without being agreed upon, as if it were “another shovel into the kettle.” “There is already enough excitement in this legislature,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson understands that the early elections in Catalonia would have had direct consequences on the activity of Congress, especially in relation to the Government’s relations between ERC and Junts. For this reason, he maintains the thesis that the Executive has seen that negotiating the Budgets under these conditions “was going to be very complicated” and that is why he has resigned.
Furthermore, he considers that “nothing happens” to postpone the Budgets to 2025, since these have to be presented in September and if the 2024 Budgets had been successful, it would not have been in a timely manner.
In fact, Esteban predicts a “greater future projection” than next year, which will have to be presented in the Lower House in September. Of course, for him they are decisive Budgets for the future of the legislature, because if they do not go ahead “he would call everything into question.”
Budgets for 2025 that, in reality, have already begun to be negotiated. As the groups had already started budget talks with the Treasury for the 2024 accounts, these will be the starting point for next year’s Budgets.
Regarding these negotiations with the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, Aitor Esteban has indicated that his group had already made progress on some specific issues in the last week, although he has not given more details in this regard.
“There are some things that were important and that I would have liked to have come into force already, but hey, they are there,” he commented on the matter. However, he recalled that there are other parliamentary instruments with which the Government will be able to comply with its agreements without waiting for the public accounts.
Next, the spokesperson assured that despite the budgetary mishap, the legislature “has the same firmness and the same support as it had before this moment.”
That is why he believes that “something can still be done” at the legislative level, although now we are entering a period of “idle” that will be marked by the Basque and Galician elections and the Easter break. “We will resume little by little,” he said.
