In theory, the major item on the Spanish political agenda today was the meeting in Madrid of the bilateral commission formed by the Spanish and Catalan governments - not, it should be noted, the much-vaunted dialogue table on the political conflict, but a meeting with more mundane and bureaucratic concerns. However, another meeting took place. And although it was nothing to do with the political conflict over Catalonia, it surprisingly addressed another very hot potato in Catalan politics: the issue of the expansion of Barcelona's El Prat Airport.
The Catalan vice president, Jordi Puigneró (Junts), met with the new Spanish transport minister, Raquel Sánchez, the Spanish secretary of state for transport, Isabel Pardo de Vera, and the president of the state-owned airport operator AENA, Maurici Lucena. According to eldiario.es and confirmed by ElNacional.cat, the meeting served to address the future expansion of Barcelona's El Prat airport. And they came to an understanding.
According to sources in the vice presidency consulted by ElNacional.cat, Puigneró and the minister Sánchez reached an "agreement to make Barcelona an intercontinental airport with a high speed train connection with the airports of Girona and Reus". The Spanish government has spoken of an investment of 1.7 billion euros that will translate into 83,000 new direct jobs and that will allow Barcelona to be positioned "as an international hub" at European level.
In a press conference from the Blanquerna Cultural Centre, vice president Jordi Puigneró confirmed the agreement, assuring that "we can say that Catalonia will have an intercontinental airport and interconnected with the two airports of Reus and Girona". He also guaranteed that "it will only go ahead if it has the approval of the European Commission" at the environmental level. If possible, he affirmed, it will be built "with zero impact."
Two Catalan government visions
In a recent interview with the EFE agency, Jordi Puigneró said that he saw an agreement with AENA for the expansion of the airport as "close", after having held technical meetings during the month of July. "We are all making efforts to try to make it possible to finalise this solution, which would be the best for everyone and the best for Catalonia. We can't afford not to have an intercontinental airport, the economy can't afford it now," the Catalan vice president argued.
But the two partners in the Catalan government coalition do not see the project in the same way. ERC takes a much more reticent position. In July, the Catalan climate action minister, Teresa Jordà, addressed a letter to the European commissioner for the environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius. In the letter, the minister stated, with regard to a possible expansion of the El Prat-Barcelona airport that she was "convinced that both you and I will agree that social and economic progress must be compatible with the preservation of biodiversity".
Sinkevicius replied. The European commissioner warned that before "the expansion of El Prat Airport can be carried out" "it is necessary to address the deficiencies" in the Llobregat Delta, for which the EU executive has opened two infringement proceedings. In this regard, the EU politician warned that "the project must meet all legal requirements set out in European Union legislation in order to be authorized."