Catalonia Today, September 14, 2006 | The airport as an electoral weapon

The fact that the Catalan electoral pre-campaign has coincided with the negotiation of the Spanish budget has muddied the atmosphere of fair play between parties on Catalonia's national day. PSOE and PSC have tried to capitalise on the Spanish state's spending with the announcement of a secret meeting to negotiate the €400 million that will be spent in Catalonia. El Prat airport, which in July was the scene of a wildcat strike, producing absolute chaos, also formed part of the electoral marketing between Catalan and Spanish Socialists, with the aim of benefiting the Montilla’s candidacy.

We are in a bad state if the Spanish budget has to be used to favour a certain candidate and to prejudice the rest. If the PSC really wants to do something positive, it should hasten the handover of the airport to the Generalitat, and give up half measures such as consortiums that don’t solve the real problems. Until El Prat is managed by the nearest administration, we will find no remedy to a centralist airport model that does not fit in Europe. Everything else is a perversion and a biased use of the facility that ignores citizens.

(Article de Saül Gordillo al setmanari Catalonia Today, 14 de setembre de 2006, pàgina 3.)