The possibility of applying a haircut to the debt of some autonomous communities such as Catalonia, mentioned by socialist officials and pointed out in this newspaper, has met with the rejection of the PP in several territories led by the popular ones.
In the case of Catalonia, this debt amounts to 84,500 million, of which more than 71,000 belong to the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) devised by the former Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro, in 2012. It is not an improvised initiative. The PSC, in the electoral program with which it ran for the 2021 Catalan elections, proposed “the forgiveness by the State of part of the debt.
Now, within the framework of the investiture negotiations, this possibility has been mentioned again, although from the PSOE itself, the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, assured yesterday that it is “precipitated”. In the Popular Party, several territorial leaders have criticized this possibility and have already rejected it.
For the deputy secretary of organization of the PP, Miguel Tellado, “it is an insult to intelligence” to propose “a reduction in the debt of Catalonia.” “The partisan use of the financing model is a serious mistake, much less as a bargaining chip”, he has criticized.
The popular senator and president of the Committee of Rights and Guarantees of the Popular Party, Rafael Hernando, expressed through social networks that “if you have voted for the PSOE and you are not from Catalonia, you have done a great business.” “And all so that Pedro Sánchez continues to be the boss of Frankenstein,” he added.
From the Junta de Andalucía, governed by the popular Juanma Moreno, they have warned of possible “new perks” that the PSOE offers to pro-independence parties within the framework of this possible reform of the regional financing system.
In the Valencian Community, the new president Carlos Mazón has rejected that the new regional financing model be negotiated “in the dark room of separatism” and has already demanded “compensation” for the “exceptional” situation that has multiplied the debt of the region after being “unjustly and soporificamente the worst treated” by this system.
Another of the communities led by the PP, the Xunta de Galicia has shown “concern” that the Government can carry out this possible debt forgiveness, which it considers would be an “inequitable” measure.
The Popular Treasury Minister, Miguel Corgos, pointed out that, although “it seems that forgiveness is being talked about, what is being proposed is a mutualization of the debt, that is, distributing the debt of some autonomous communities that are estimated to be too indebted among all the autonomous communities, among the entire State”.
In the case of Madrid, from the Executive led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso they ask that the debt of Catalonia not be forgiven, warning that the acting head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, is “willing to any mechanism to continue in La Moncloa”.
“It would be sending a very serious signal to the market about the solvency that a certain Spanish administration may have in meeting its obligations, especially in terms of debt,” they say.
