The Government and ERC begin negotiating the transfer of El Prat

The PSC confirms that talks have already begun regarding the establishment of a Catalan airport management authority.

Aena shares barely changed on Monday, standing at €25.36, down 0.55% at the close of trading. Hours earlier, the deputy leader of the Socialist Workers' Party (PSC), Lluïsa Moret , acknowledged that talks have already begun between the government led by Pedro Sánchez and the ERC regarding the "governance of the airport system."

This fulfills one of the main demands that the party led by Oriol Junqueras extracted from the Socialists just over a year ago, in exchange for voting in favor of the investiture of the president of the Generalitat and leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa.

Moret, who is one of the PSC's most influential leaders, both organizationally and institutionally, specified that the interlocutors will be the Ministry of Transport, headed by Óscar Puente , and Aena . She also noted that the contacts will extend to the dialogue between the Catalan Republicans and the Catalan Socialists.

The latter do not explicitly speak of transfer, although this concept has long been used by nationalist parties. In fact, it is a long-standing aspiration of nationalism and also of economic stakeholders in the region, although it did not appear in the reform of the Statute that came into force in 2006.

Despite this, it remained a priority demand, as evidenced by the event held in the spring of 2007, which brought together academics and business leaders to demand a complete overhaul of this infrastructure. The event, which remains a fixture in the community's political imagination, took place at the IESE Business School.

At the time, a potential transfer of El Prat was much simpler, as Aena was still a wholly public company. It was ten years ago when it debuted on the markets, and currently, the State holds 51% of the capital through the public entity Enaire .

The issue was also left out of the negotiations that allowed Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to remain in power at the end of 2023 despite losing the general election. The ERC (Republican Left) did manage to incorporate it in the summer of 2024, in the investiture pact negotiated by Moret herself with the then ERC deputy , Marta Rovira . The latter also launched the "own treasury" and a new "bilateral" financing model for the Generalitat.

It remains to be seen what exactly could be transferred, as the only thing the document makes clear is that a Catalan authority dedicated to airport management would be created. In addition to El Prat, Aena also has three other airports in the region: Sabadell (Barcelona), Reus (Tarragona), and Girona-Costa Brava.

A possible precedent could be the 1996 agreement reached by the now-defunct CiU (Civil Union) and the PP (People's Party) in the negotiations that allowed José María Aznar to become Prime Minister. In the so-called Pacte del Majèstic (Majesty Pact ), the government then headed by Jordi Pujol managed to increase its powers. Among them, the appointment of the presidents of the Port Authorities of Barcelona and Tarragona. Both infrastructures remain part of the State Ports Authority, although the Generalitat (Catalan Government) chooses a key position.

In any case, ERC and Junts have long been demanding the full transfer of Aena's assets, which in June obtained the approval of the Generalitat (Catalan regional government) for the expansion of El Prat Airport. The airport manager, chaired by Maurici Lucena, plans to allocate more than €3 billion, although the European Commission will have the final say, since the extension of one of the three runways would affect natural areas that enjoy EU protection.

ERC completely dissociates this investment from the management model and asserts that the latter issue is the priority. They are not alone in their rejection of the expansion of El Prat, as the CUP and the Catalan representative of Sumar, En Comú Podem, also share their opposition. However, the Government points out that the powers currently held by the Parliament are very limited, so they do not see the possibility of a potential veto.

El Prat Airport is a key player for Aena. The airport operator closed the first half of the year with a profit of over 800 million euros, a 33% increase, and 4.7% more traffic, including its international assets. The first six months of the year once again shattered all records at Barcelona's terminals, which handled 27.18 million passengers, a 4.2% increase.