ERC wants Barcelona airport expansion halted. Diana Riba is calling for Catalonia to control future investment and put rail ahead of further tourism-led growth.
ERC wants the planned expansion of Barcelona Airport halted as opposition grows in central Barcelona. Diana Riba says the airport is already operating at the limit of its capacity. She also wants the Parlament and Catalonia's citizens to have a say in future airport investment decisions.
Riba made the appeal on Sunday before a demonstration against the project on paseo de Gràcia. The ERC deputy leader and MEP used the protest to challenge the expansion and the way major infrastructure decisions are made.
The march held in Barcelona on 20 September was backed by around 210 civic, environmental and neighbourhood organisations under the slogan ‘No a l’ampliació, ni ara ni mai’.
The immediate policy issue is DORA III. Aena's third Airport Regulatory Document sets out investment of close to 13 billion euros across Spain's airport network. The Spanish government approved the framework for 2027-2031. The investment materials set aside approximately 1.76 billion euros for Barcelona-El Prat. Riba says this framework should not set Catalonia's priorities without a stronger role for its institutions and population.
Her preferred direction is simple: rail should come before more airport capacity.
Riba says railway investment is more urgent than the airport project. She connects that choice to a different model for Catalonia, with transport organised around efficiency instead of continued growth in one type of infrastructure. Her proposal has not been enacted. She is calling for the project to stop and for control over these decisions to move to Catalonia.
The DORA III allocation does not immediately authorise construction of a third runway at El Prat. According to reporting by El País, the current package focuses on improvements to terminals T1 and T2, parking and related infrastructure, while any full physical expansion has been discussed as a later-stage option after 2032.
The economic argument goes beyond transport. Riba wants Catalonia to rely less on tourism by developing other sectors, including food production and related activity. She says a more varied economy would give the region greater sovereignty and a stronger economic base.
That position differs from the pressure described in an earlier port report. This dispute is not about accommodation capacity. It is about whether airport growth should remain the main answer to transport and economic demand.
The dispute brings together two questions that are often handled separately. One is how nearly 13 billion euros will be used across Spain's airport network. The other is who should set investment priorities in Catalonia. Riba's intervention links both questions to the same demand for regional control.
According to RTVE Catalunya, supporters present the government-approved plan as a modernisation programme. The money would improve terminals, aprons and related infrastructure rather than immediately fund the controversial third runway. Zeroport and allied environmental and neighbourhood groups say the investment still extends the airport-growth policy. They argue that it delays the underlying dispute instead of settling it.
Riba's alternative is more than opposition to one airport project. She wants investment shifted toward rail and the economy made less dependent on tourism, with the Parlament and citizens given a larger role in the decision. On the facts presented, the airport expansion is a test of priorities. ERC says Catalonia should choose efficiency and a broader economic base before adding capacity to a tourism-led model.
