Investments in Catalonia: they cannot be left alone
Over the years, it has been demonstrated that, in autonomous states, state investments play a significant role both in shaping public policies and in rewarding or punishing individual territories based, first, on whether they are approved, and then on whether they are implemented. These days we have learned According to the General State Intervention (IGAE), during the first half of 2024 only 20% was spent in Catalonia, 456 million euros, which is at the bottom of all the autonomous communities, while in Madrid, for example, the figure exceeds 57%, with 694 million euros.
In response to such eloquent data, the Spanish government has stated that the annual figure will be higher and that it is investing more than ever. But we are witnessing an endemic and rather infuriating problem. According to the Generalitat's own Department of Economy and Finance, using data from the IGAE (Spanish Institute of Economics and Finance), the average relative weight of investments executed in Catalonia relative to the regional total between 2013 and 2023 was 10.1%, with fluctuations ranging from a low of 7.2% in 2014 to a high of 7.2% in 2014. According to the Barcelona Trade Commission, between 2013 and 2020, the average percentage of planned investment execution in Catalonia was 67.4%, fluctuating between the high in 2017 (81%) and the low in 2016 (56.4%). The most recent annual data available reveals that the weight of state-funded investment in Catalonia in 2023 was 9.3% of total state investment, well below the relative weight of Catalonia's GDP (18.8%) and population (16.5%) in 2023.
It rains on the wet.
This demonstrates both the incompetence and negligence of those responsible for implementing the investments and the failure to observe the compliance mechanisms provided for in the budget laws themselves—for example, the requirement that the Commission on State Investments in Infrastructure conduct periodic monitoring. It also demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the general instruments of bilateral relations between the Generalitat and the State, such as the Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission. And this despite the fact that a Supreme Court ruling of November 2, 2017, declared that the agreements of these bodies on investment matters are binding on the State, regardless of the fact that, as the ruling on the Statute of Autonomous Communities (Estatut) unfortunately stated, due to the unfortunate third additional provision, the Spanish Parliament is free to decide what is or is not invested in the population.
The best way to end or mitigate this phenomenon of endemic under-execution is by regulating the participation of the Generalitat (Catalan Government) in the execution of state investments, either through an agreement or by creating a consortium between both administrations. The agreement must establish a system for the execution and supervision of works to allow the Generalitat to carry out collaborative and execution monitoring functions. The second participatory option is more forceful and implies organic collaboration, not just control or oversight of non-compliance. Both options are provided for in the legal system and are possible: in State Law 40/2015, of October 1, on the legal regime of the public sector, and in Law 26/2010, of August 3, on the legal and procedural regime of the public administrations of Catalonia, although the consortium must be authorized by law (the same law).
Another possibility—perhaps the most effective and realistic—is for the State Budget Law to establish the consequences of an incomplete level of investment execution. The eventual transfer of funds to the Generalitat would be made regardless of the level of execution or only in certain cases, for example, referring to the average territorialized state investment. They could be left alone to fulfill their commitments to Catalonia.
