Already towards the advanced elections in Catalonia on May 12, in Moncloa they consider it preferable that the Government of the Generalitat and the pro-independence formations focus the objective on better financing, instead of self-determination or independence.
But the Spanish Government also does not accept Pere Aragonès’ proposal to agree on a unique financing model for Catalonia, similar to the Basque concert, with full fiscal sovereignty. The purpose of the Executive of Pedro Sánchez is to agree on a new financing model for all the autonomous communities of the common regime – all of them, except the Basque Country and Navarre –, which is why it is also asking for an improbable agreement with the Popular Party of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, as it now governs most of the autonomous regions.
Sánchez himself warned this last week, in response to the request expressed by ERC at the control session of the Spanish Government in the Senate. “The answer must be multilateral”, alleged the president of the Executive, who ruled out singular and specific funding for Catalonia, similar to the Basque or Navarrese model.
And they pointed it out again yesterday, at the end of the Council of Ministers, both the spokeswoman for the Spanish Government, Pilar Alegría, and the Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, after the president of the Generalitat proposed for Catalonia a system similar to the of the Basque concert. However, both avoided direct confrontation with Aragonès.
“The will of this Executive, and we already raised it during the last legislature, is to reach an agreement with all the autonomous communities”, warned the minister spokeswoman. We must not forget that the current funding model, approved during the mandate of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has expired since 2014. That is to say, it has been almost ten years. In any case, Alegría preferred to direct the focus towards the PP.
“I hope an agreement with the PP is possible for this reform of the regional financing model that we have already raised several times”, demanded the spokeswoman of the Spanish Government.
“In addition, we are at an opportune moment, since there are eleven autonomous communities that are governed by the same political color”, he pointed out, referring to the Popular Party. “It would be desirable and positive for the PP and Feijóo to transfer a joint position of all these autonomous communities in the matter of regional financing”, claimed Alegría.
However, the minister spokeswoman again emphasized that the autonomous communities receive during the mandates of Pedro Sánchez “the largest resources in their history”, exceeding by 35% the funding they obtained during those of his predecessor , Mariano Rajoy.
In this sense, the Minister of the Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, emphasized that for the reform of the financing system “the dialogue between all the autonomies is what must lead us to a decision”, within the framework of the Policy Council Fiscal and Finance (CPFF), in which the first vice-president of the Spanish Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, meets with the finance councilors of the communities.
In this multilateral forum, Cuerpo defended, “this is where the reform of the financing system must be developed”, which is already a decade behind schedule. The Minister of Economy thus emphasized that progress is already being made in this multilateral way to alleviate the debt that many communities took on due to the expenses arising from the financial crisis. “Within this framework, we must continue to advance with a dialogue that includes not only Catalonia, but also the rest”, insisted Cuerpo, referring to the autonomous communities as a whole.
Sánchez himself emphasized that the debt relief for Catalonia will be around 15,000 million euros, which will mean a saving of 1,300 million in interest which, in his opinion, will give the Generalitat “financial capacity, muscle and autonomy” .
