“There is no money in poetry, but there is no poetry in money either.” Robert Graves, the British writer, who is buried with a crown of bushes under a simple clay tombstone in Deià (Balearic Islands), one of the regions with the highest income in Spain, believed that this double absence – of gold in lyricism and of lyricism in business– protects the former from corruption that, like the tradition of song, has accompanied human events since the origin of the world.
Choosing to become a poet has a price: poverty must be professed with dignity. Graves knew this firsthand because it was his historical novels—especially I, Claudio—that helped him collect royalties; His poems and his great essay –The White Goddess–, dedicated to the Muse, were less profitable editorially, although they raised his spirit.
Something similar happens in the (perpetual) war of regional financing, which Moncloa has just revived, in parallel to the negotiations to try to invest Pedro Sánchez as president, after more than five years refusing to deal with it, despite the fact that the system regional fund sharing has been out of date for almost a decade.
All the affected parties pretend to speak in verse – they appeal to plural Spain, to identity, to singularity, to their own language – but the substance of the discussion is absolutely prosaic. How much and in exchange for what? A speech identical to the parliament of a cattle dealer.
As coincidences –in politics– are mere appearances, it can be inferred that at this moment it is convenient for the PSOE to establish a direct relationship between the parliamentary pact not to repeat the elections and the demands of the autonomies, especially of Catalonia, which on 23J has been the electoral barn that allowed the socialists to save themselves and make the aspirations of the (two) right to repeal sanchismo fail.
This link, however, brings the shadow of discord. The objective of the Socialists is to wrest the (tacit) support of the independence movement without setting the rest of Spain on fire politically. Moncloa has opened this new game of chess with a proposal to forgive the regional debt – the Madrid of Isabel Díaz Ayuso considers it a casus belli – whose ultimate goal is to break the territorial front of the PP, which is practically absolute after the 28M elections.
Both in the regions where Genoa has agreed with Vox -Extremadura, Valencia, Castilla-León, the Balearic Islands, Aragon- and where it governs alone (Andalusia) the initiative is being interpreted as the political price to be paid to the nationalists, who It would be to the detriment of the rest of the regions. Valencia, the region with the most debt, is more receptive than Andalusia, whose debt accounts for 20% of GDP, three and a half points below the average.
In Seville, the PSOE’s (interested) offer to convince its potential new parliamentary partners causes concern. The president of the Junta verbalized it a few days ago in Parliament: “The Andalusians are going to pay the bill for the amnesty, the independence referendum and the privileged treatment that more investments [in Catalonia] entail.”
Regional financing is a narrow blanket: if it covers the feet, we uncover the head, and vice versa. The critical position of Moreno Bonilla mixes, however, the institutional with the strictly partisan. Andalusia should be in favor of both the cancellation of the debt with the State and a renewal of the regional financing mechanism.
The reason is very obvious. Since 2009 it has stopped receiving up to 12,000 million euros from the State. He receives 130 euros less per inhabitant (according to the adjusted population) than what would correspond to him, a figure that rises to 186 euros if the reference is the legal population. This amount represents a quarter of the money managed by the great autonomy of the South.
It is greater than the annual spending on education in the entire region and is equivalent to the entire health budget corresponding to 2022. The Quirinale’s position on the first issue –debt relief– is influenced by political momentum: canceling an asymmetric regional debt implies , de facto, mutualise the debit. The idea also leaves Feijóo out of the game. Andalusia would improve its financial situation if it went ahead, by no longer having to repay installments on account, but it would be to a lesser extent than Valencia or Catalonia, the biggest beneficiaries.
Regarding the financing model, the discussion does not seem to be so contaminated by partisan interest, as evidenced at the time by the alliance between Moreno Bonilla and the socialist Ximo Puig before the defeat of the Botànic pact. The Andalusian parties agreed in 2008, prior to the departure of the PSOE from San Telmo, a common position in Parliament. The promoter of it was María Jesús Montero, current Minister of Finance, at the time of her adviser.
According to this minimum agreement, Andalusia requires a financial contribution from the State of the order of 4,000 million more per year. If the Treasury did not guarantee this figure now, Montero would be contradicting himself and giving Moreno Bonilla a silver bullet in the event that he returns –as expected in the medium term– to the arenas of regional politics.
The minister keeps a card up her sleeve to balance the Sudoku game: change the weight of the system’s corrective factors. An idea that could cause a conflict between San Telmo and Plaça de Sant Jaume. The change is not innocent. Until now, the debate in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council – from which Catalonia is absent to achieve special treatment in a bilateral negotiation – oscillated between the population factor and the real cost of services.
If a government of the PSOE and Sumar –with the support of the independentistas– introduced other new magnitudes into the equation, such as the current expenditure in the regional budgets to finance social services (health and education), or changed its proportion, Andalusia would be badly off in financial terms with respect to Catalonia and the rest of the country.
The Generalitat would receive less money per population, but would compensate it via services. In 2022 the Government spent 1,902 euros per inhabitant on health; Andalusia did not exceed 1,446. Catalonia invests 1,152 euros per person in education; the Board does not exceed 1,017 euros.
If Moncloa decides to benefit those who spend the most, instead of rewarding the autonomies that have kept their debt under control, assuming a social cost, the North-South battle will be inevitable. All the old epic poems that fascinated Robert Graves, beginning with Homer’s Iliad, are about war. The battle for regional financing – much more Phoenician than Greek – is going to be the new Troy of Spanish politics.
