Improving financing should be a national goal
It is not common for the country's main economic and business players to agree and adopt a common position on such a politically poisoned issue as regional financing, but This is exactly what has happened The statement, signed by all the chambers of commerce, the Círculo de Economía (Circle of Economy), Barcelona Global, Fomento, Pimec, the RACC, Fira de Barcelona, the College of Economists, and FemCat, highlights the effort involved in conducting a joint analysis of the situation and reaching conclusions. Political parties should take note of this, because ambitious goals can only be achieved by forging broad consensus. And what does the statement say about the funding proposal put forward by the Spanish government after reaching an agreement with ERC? It states that it is "a significant improvement over the current model" but that it "cannot be considered sufficient." Therefore, it calls on Catalan parties to "work together" to improve certain aspects and safeguard others already included in the proposal.
Among the positive points the organizations see are the fact that the Spanish government is providing more resources to the autonomous communities ("a step in the right direction"), that the transparency of the system is being improved to benefit those communities disadvantaged by the current system (they cite Catalonia, Murcia, and the Valencian Community), and that non-homogeneous powers are being financed through an additional share of VAT, which represents progress in fiscal co-responsibility. Regarding areas for improvement, they cite the fact that the cost of living is not taken into account when calculating the distribution of resources and that compliance with the ordinality criterion is not guaranteed in the long term.
The statement notes that the financing system is only responsible for part of the fiscal deficit, although it emphasizes that the €4.686 billion that Catalonia is projected to receive in excess in 2027 will contribute to reducing it. Moving beyond financing, it laments the low level of state investment in Catalonia, insists on the publication of fiscal balances and budget execution data, and welcomes the creation of an investment consortium between the state and the Catalan government. Finally, it reiterates that the central administration should streamline itself to avoid increasing the debt and warns that, as long as there are territories with special economic agreements, it is legitimate for other territories, particularly Catalonia, to aspire to the same.
Once the main outlines of what is surely the Catalan consensus on this issue have been drawn, the statement sets tasks for the Catalan parties: considering the proposal "a starting point," now is the time to join forces for a national objective and not let the opportunity slip by when the parliamentary process for the model opens up. We hope, therefore, that all parties with representation in Congress will rise to the occasion and take advantage of a situation that we don't know when it will occur again.
