The President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, assured this week in the control session of the Parliament that "Catalonia already has more than 10,000 Ukrainian refugee citizens" in the first reception system, and that "about a thousand young people and children" of this country "have already been enrolled in school in the last three weeks".  For this reason, Aragonès wanted to say "thank you to the educational community of the country, for the effort it entails". 

The chief executive expressed to the Chamber that, in light of the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Government remains focused on "the humanitarian field and on responding to the economic and social consequences". "Unfortunately, this conflict will go on for a long time," lamented the president, who pointed out that this will imply "providing a housing response and incorporating refugees into the labor market." An action where he has claimed that "refugees from other conflicts must also be taken into account, who may not have the intensity in number of people or the proximity to Europe of Ukraine, but for whom there should be no discrimination".

On an economic level, the president has trusted that "this week the European Council will definitively approve the decoupling of gas from the setting of electricity prices", and has asked to work on the promotion of renewable energies and the development of new sources energy like green hydrogen.

Support for the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people

During the control session, the chief executive wanted to make clear that the Government of Catalonia supports the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people. "This is what we have always defended", he stated, also expressing "great concern" about the decision of the Spanish government communicated to the Kingdom of Morocco "in terms of human rights and what it means regarding the possibilities of compliance with what is established by the United Nations in the different resolutions on the future of Western Sahara." In addition, Aragonès has also expressed his disagreement with the fact that "the President of the Spanish government has not appeared yet in Congress of Deputies to explain the change of position that has taken place on the part of the State and that has been maintained since 1976 ", and has expressed his concern "for the consequences that it can have, from the geopolitical point of view and from the point of view of energy supply”, the change of position.

Towards green energy

Regarding the supply of energy, the president stressed that the Government has made proposals to the State Government to change this situation.  "We have proposed measures such as the decoupling of gas prices in the electricity market, the acceleration of renewable projects, the study of the establishment of ceilings as it was until 2021 in the regulation of megawatt hour prices and also the study of the establishment of taxes on hydrocarbons, that who has the jurisdiction is the State", has defended.

And he has insisted on promoting renewable energy and developing new energy sources such as green hydrogen in line with the agreement he signed last week with the Minister of the Federal State of Baden-Württenberg during his institutional visit. The two governments will share a working group on green hydrogen.