Treasury trusts to meet bilaterally with all communities for the new financing

MadridThe Ministry of Finance is confident that all autonomous communities will agree to meet bilaterally in the coming weeks to address the reform of the regional financing model. After the department now led by Arcadi España sent a letter to the territories on Monday to arrange these meetings, the minister himself has expressed confidence that this will happen, even despite criticism from communities governed by the PP: "I hope that all [the CCAA] want to sit down. I can't fathom the reasons for not doing so," Spain reflected at the press conference following this Tuesday's council of ministers.

Andalusia, for example, has already closed the door to this meeting and the regional government has stated that "the future of Andalusians' money is defended at the table where all autonomous communities are present," in the words of the acting Andalusian Minister of Economy and Finance, Carolina España, this Tuesday. The Minister of Finance took the opportunity to rebut this position, which he links to "three reasons": "Either the PP does not have an [alternative] model, or they prioritize what Genoa dictates [referring to the PP's national leadership], or they do not need additional resources," he reflected. "Do you really not want to talk about having additional resources?" Arcadi España reiterated.

At the moment, there is no fixed calendar for these meetings and, although they are planned to take place in statutory order (Catalonia, therefore, would be first), the minister said they want to be "flexible" with the agendas of the councilors of rank to speed up the process. The Spanish government's intention is to convene a Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy (CPFF) before the summer holidays to once again put the reform of the current regional financing model on the table, which has been negotiated with ERC as part of the agreement to invest Salvador Illa as president of the Generalitat. Afterwards, the reform would have to go through the council of ministers.

Advance payments update

But while the deadlock continues regarding a reform of the regional financing model, the Spanish government is once again putting on the table the resources from this system that autonomous communities of common regime (all except Navarra and the Basque Country, of special fiscal regime) can count on.

This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers has once again given the green light to the update of the advance payments or installments that communities receive: this year they will have resources from the financing system of up to 157,731 million euros, 7% more than in 2025. Of this money, Catalonia would receive approximately 30,200 million euros.

Its approval comes after PP communities complained about the lack of an update that generates tensions in the treasury. The Minister of Finance recalled that the advance payments for this year have already been rejected twice in Congress (they will now have to be voted on again) due to the votes against, precisely, from the popular party. Spain has asked in a press conference for them to vote in favor.

It should be recalled that advance payments or installments are the resources that the State transfers in advance to autonomous communities and town councils depending on the forecast of tax collection by the administrations. They represent the bulk of the resources that territories have to prepare their budgets and cover basic services, and they are updated each year according to forecasts of economic growth, but especially of tax revenues, which have performed well in recent years.

To this amount, the positive settlement for 2024 must be added: 13,506 million euros. This means that in that year, the State foresaw less collection from the communities, and in the end, it did not happen. In this way, the Treasury will transfer a total of 170,300 million euros.

News for town councils

In the case of city councils and provincial councils, they will receive 30 billion euros. As a novelty, the Spanish government has approved that the municipal councils can use their surplus and treasury reserves to make financially sustainable investments. In addition, they will be able to use the surplus from the 2026-2029 period to invest in housing without waiting for annual authorization from the Spanish government.