The executions of State investments in Catalonia: nothing new
The Ministry of Finance has delivered to the parliamentary groups the data corresponding to the territorialized execution of State investments in the different autonomous communities. And the Generalitat has issued a note through the Department of Economy and Finance. Here are some surprises, which are no longer so surprising!
The data that are regionalized do not reach half of what the State's total investments were in 2025. The task of pushing for greater transparency in accounts continues to fail to take root. What corresponds to Catalonia in recent years is again – despite all that is said and has been said about the plundering of Catalonia with respect to the weak socialist government – just over 8.8% of the total of that investment identified by communities. It does not reach half of Catalonia's GDP. In fact, it is the lowest figure in the entire series since 2013, which in no case has ever reached, not even close, the weight of the Catalan population.
The Generalitat, to sweeten the detail, adds the last two years and tells us in bold that in 2024 there was a higher executed amount, in nominal terms, than the figure for 2023. Nothing. What it does not say is that in 2025 it was lower. It goes from 10.8% to 8.6%. The absence of data, among the territorialized ones, of AENA stands out, with revenues five times higher than Enaire, the operator, which is included. The figure for Adif (bold again) increases, but that of AVE and Renfe decreases.
If we look at the data to check if the much-denounced differentials with Madrid are being corrected: nothing! In that community in 2024, the State executed, in relation to GDP weight, double that of Catalonia. Not a corrected figure, but doubled again in 2025. Only in investments by State Ports, it is clear, Madrid does not surpass us.
What the data reflect is, at the very least, a disregard for the macroeconomic decision-makers of the Catalan economy. 80% are investment decisions by public companies in which little seems to be counted. At the very least, the 'ex ante' information of these investments should be known by those responsible for Economy and Territory, even if only to decide their own investments and coordinate their joint impact on the territory they manage. Nothing. The sensitivity is minimal. With execution, one becomes aware of realities when they have already been spent.
Curious that the Government issues the statement without blushing. Perhaps it thinks it will help achieve a certain acquiescence from the other communities in favor of the general regional financing that is claimed, showing that, in these matters of privileges, there is nothing at all. We shall see.
The third additional provision of the Statute does not seem to have been useful in creating a minimum of complicity with the State, even though it has no legal force. Certainly, the figures show that it has been of no use. Perhaps the rest of the data, untotalized investments, or what comes from the rest of the State's expenses, compensate for these poor percentages? We still know nothing at all about fiscal balances.