La Vanguardia and RAC 1 have organized, this Friday, the first debate of the electoral campaign for the elections of the next 12 May in the Parliament of Catalonia, in which Salvador Illa (PSC), Pere Aragonès (ERC), Josep Rull ( Together), Ignacio Garriga (Vox), Laia Estrada (CUP), Jéssica Albiach (Comuns Sumar), Carlos Carrizosa (Cs) and Alejandro Fernández (PP). These are the verifications of the Verificat team, whose methodology can be consulted here.
The Vox candidate, Ignacio Garriga, has stated that since the beginning of the process, more than 8,000 companies have been expelled from Catalonia, a statement that has been repeated for years.
It’s misleading. Since October 2017, 9,860 entities have moved their registered office outside Catalonia, but 4,627 more have moved it here from other Autonomous Communities, according to data from the College of Registrars. The total balance is -5,233.
In any case, the transfer of headquarters does not imply a move of the offices, nor the closure of a company. There is no evidence that jobs have been lost: as Verificat already explained, production centers do not have to move and, in many cases, not even the company addresses changed offices.
Alejandro Fernández, PP candidate, has stated that rental prices in Barcelona “have doubled” in eight years of common government in the capital, despite the housing policies of former mayor Ada Colau.
It’s misleading. During that period, the price rose by 55%, not 100%, from 734.94 euros in 2015 to 1,136.40 in 2023, according to data from the Housing Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
Garriga has also stated that Catalonia has “more waiting lists” in healthcare. It is misleading because despite having a record of people waiting for the Catalan Health Service, the current average waiting time for operations and outpatient consultations is not the highest in recent years.
In fact, the average waiting time for surgery is the lowest since there is data. On the other hand, the time for consultations was longer in 2016 and during the years of the pandemic.
Fernández stated that Junts has “imposed 15 taxes in Catalonia that no other autonomous community has.” It is misleading information. When Junts per Catalunya came to power in the Generalitat government in 2017, Catalonia had 12 taxes of its own. The following year, the number increased to 15.
From 2017 to 2018, the Generalitat included four new taxes of its own, while another that was already levied was declared unconstitutional. In short, under the party’s mandate three new taxes were added, and not 15 as Fernández claims. Currently, Catalonia has 11 taxes of its own, and remains the autonomous community with the most.
The taxes included in 2018 were:
While the one declared unconstitutional was the one that taxed the provision of content by providers of electronic communication services and the promotion of the audiovisual sector and the dissemination of digital culture.
Fernández has also reproached Rull for saying that Junts had raised the personal income tax for the Catalans. It is also misleading. Quim Torra’s Government raised the regional income tax bracket to incomes between 90,000 and 175,000 euros in 2020. The range from 90,000 to 120,000 euros went from being taxed from 21.5% to 23.5% and from 120,000 to 175,000 , from 23.5% to 24.5% between 2019 and 2020, according to data from the Agència Tributària de Catalunya, which affected less than 10% of the population.
Garriga has assured that people have to decide between “putting in a washing machine or bathing their children because if not, the Generalitat will fine them.”
It’s false. No regulations prohibit putting on washing machines or filling the bathtub. Furthermore, the Generalitat cannot fine individuals, only city councils can do so.
The Government can fine the town councils of the municipalities in an emergency situation due to drought that exceed the average consumption allowed by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA): 200 liters per person per day, except in 12 municipalities of the Empordà (in level 2 of emergency), with a maximum of 180. This limit includes domestic consumption, municipal equipment or businesses.
The current average consumption is 117 liters. Each town council has its own regulations and sanctioning regime. Often, if they receive a fine, people who spend excessively are penalized, as the ACA explained to Verificat. It is not prohibited to fill a bathtub or use a washing machine.
President Aragonès has stated that the budget that was presented for 2024 was “30% higher than at the beginning of the legislature”.
It is misleading, since its calculation does not take inflation into account. In absolute numbers, the budget for this year would have been 34% higher than that of 2021, but if we discount the effect of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the increase is actually 19%. Furthermore, if we calculate the per capita budget, this increase would be 15%.
It is true, however, that the current unemployment rate is the lowest in the last 15 years in Catalonia.
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Migrants who have recently arrived in Spain are sent to different autonomous communities depending on the availability of places in the reception centres. Catalonia is the sixth region with the most places available. It is ten times less than Andalusia.
In reality, the distribution is made based on available places and there is no evidence of the call effect, as Verificat has explained on previous occasions. The arrival of foreign population is more related to periods of Spanish economic prosperity or to the political situation in the country of origin. There is also no registry of people in an irregular situation, so it cannot be said that Catalonia is the autonomous community with the most people in this state.
The Ministry of Finance has not made public the full data on the level of execution of the budgeted investments since 2021.
Between 2015 and 2021, 60% of the planned investments were executed in Catalonia, while in the Community of Madrid the execution reached 122%.
Officially, the degree of execution as of this year is unknown. The newspaper Ara accessed the reports for 2022 and the first half of 2023 and published its data. According to this publication, the average investment in Catalonia between 2021 and 2022 was 39% in Catalonia and 182% in the Community of Madrid. We cannot include 2023 because it is not the definitive data for that year.
