Last Tuesday, November 28, the Círculo Ecuestre received Jorge Azcón, president of the Government of Aragon, who starred in the first colloquium of the quarter of the Autonomous Presidents Cycle promoted by the Barcelona club.
After the welcome, by Enrique Lacalle, president of the Círculo Ecuestre and the presentation of Tirso Gracia, Lawyer, managing partner of Galibier Legal and member of the Executive Committee of the institution, the Aragonese president held a dialogue with Silvia Angulo, editor-in-chief of the Political section of La Vanguardia.
Jorge Azcón guided his presentation by explaining to the members of the Círculo Ecuestre the telephone conversation he had with Mayor Jaume Collboni with the aim of “unblocking the municipal construction license to put out to tender the project for the exterior reform of the Aragonese Center of Barcelona - Casa de Aragón”. According to him, the purpose is to "convert it into a reference center in Catalonia to enhance the relationship between two sister communities that are a fundamental part of the history of Spain." Unlike with the first mayor of the city of Barcelona, Azcón assured that he would not He sees the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, "very willing" to dialogue, which is why he reproached him for going to the Senate in October and not staying to listen to the rest of the regional presidents.
Asked about the first months of his mandate, Azcón expressed his concern about inflation, a fact that has led his government to “invest more in social policy and deflate personal income tax.” When asked about the distribution of taxation between autonomous communities, the president emphasized that "Catalonia and Aragon are two of the autonomous communities with the most taxes."
During the course of the colloquium, the moderator wanted to know the speaker's opinion on the entry of large companies into Aragon, to which Azcón stated that "if we want cars to continue being manufactured in Spain, we need battery factories, since if we lose This industry GDP will fall by 10%.” For this reason, he assured that "it is important that the Ministry of Industry supports Aragon with aid similar to that which has been given to companies in the sector", alluding to the Stellantis battery macro center, which could be located in the Figueruelas Aragonese factory. Regarding the distribution of Next Generation funds, Azcón valued that “the government of Aragón could have done more to obtain them”, since “they are an engine of development”, not only for its autonomous community, but “for all of Spain”.
After positively evaluating the first months of government together with Vox, with whom he had to form a coalition government “in order not to repeat elections” in the territory, the president of the Government of Aragon proceeded to give his opinion on the Amnesty Law. Azcón equated it to "a coup d'état" and argued that, "legally, it has no place in the Constitution, as the vast majority of legal operators believe."
Likewise, despite admitting that the agreement reached by the PSOE with the pro-independence forces for the forgiveness of part of the debt of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) benefits all communities, including his, he insisted that "the forgiveness threatens equality of the Spaniards." According to the Aragonese president, to the extent that financing and debt "affects us all," the issue should have been agreed upon by the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council. "As part of the price, unilaterally agreed with formations that give their votes for the investiture," he said, and "I am not willing that we Aragonese be less than anyone," he added.
Finally, the President of the Government of Aragon assessed the current situation after the failure of the joint candidacy between Aragon and Catalonia to hold the 2030 Winter Olympic Games, hoping that, in the future, they will be able to reach an agreement. "It has been a drama for Catalonia, Aragon and for Spain that we have not been able to reach an agreement," he said, later claiming that his community was the first to want to host this event. Likewise, he warned that, if they have to make a joint candidacy, facing 2038, it will have to be "balanced so that both parties feel represented and comfortable. If Aragon wants to lead that candidacy over Catalonia, we will fail. And vice versa.", he ruled. Apart from remembering that the candidacy is granted to one country, he opined that a new failure would mean losing all the investment that could reach the different territories of Spain.