Pedro Sánchez has had to deal in recent hours with his statement that the Government did not want to return to the toll motorways, although it had sent the proposal to the EU. The controversy lasts for more than a week and has surprisingly had a notable Catalan role. The PSOE has an unexpected ally: JxCAT.

All the leaders of JxCAT, as soon as they saw that the issue was radioactive in electoral terms, have chosen to keep quiet.. A thick veil has been spread. But there it is on page 47, point VI of the electoral program: “Implementation of the pay-per-use system on all roads, a new intelligent and socially and environmentally sustainable mobility system, based on a European Directive and on the principle of whoever uses and pollutes, pays. This system should serve to avoid grievances. Additionally, the resources obtained must be able to be managed by the Generalitat and be allocated to the maintenance of the entire Catalan road network”.

The PP assures that it is against returning to tolls. The PSOE, which has rectified, is negotiating with Brussels to remove this condition for European funds. ERC has always opposed it and at the time it was at the origin of the protests against the No vull pay tolls in 2012. But there is a party that now does defend the tolls. It's JxCAT. He has left it in writing. And he has not commented on it at any rally.

And that the scandal began in Catalonia. It was the general director of Traffic, Pere Navarro, who confessed on TV3 that the initiative was underway despite what Pedro Sánchez had assured in the debate with Alberto Núñez Feijóo. When the PP detected the declaration, the Government forced Navarro to rectify. And then, when the documentation appeared in Brussels, it was accepted that the position had been changed.

JxCAT not only wants to impose tolls “on all roads”. It also demands in its electoral program “assuming ownership of the road network that is currently managed by the Spanish State and that presents a great variety of types and forms of management (with or without tolls, concessioned or directly managed, with annual or multi-year maintenance contracts)”.

The end of tolls

All the parties flagged the end of the tolls, although the end was because the concession ended. In practice, it has been a disaster. A key infrastructure that crosses Catalonia from north to south, the AP-7, has become a kind of giant bike lane since it was built. Traffic jams are the common currency.

And that without talking about the dead. According to the Servei Català de Trànsit, the number of fatalities has been reduced by 56% on the AP-7, with seven deaths registered in the first six months of this year compared to the same period of the previous year. Despite the decline, it is still the road with the most fatalities. To reduce the tragic figures of 2022, the Generalitat reduced the speed limit in many sections and what was a highway became a highway.

But there are still tolls in Catalonia. They are licensed by the Generalitat, such as the Túnel del Cadí or the Túneles del Garraf, which connects Barcelona and Sitges, for example. And since it is that administration that receives the benefits, there are no mobilizations in this regard. As in the case of JxCAT and its electoral program, when Madrid cannot be blamed, the issue is not discussed.