The Catalan government approves the latest injection of 468 million euros and agrees with the ERC to provide more civil servants for the Catalan treasury.

BarcelonaThe Catalan government approves the third and final injection of public funds and secures the Generalitat's liquidity for this year. After sealing an agreement with the ERC and awaiting final details with the Comuns (England) party, the executive council approved this Thursday the third supplementary credit package worth €468 million, which will be allocated primarily to housing, cultural, and language policies. This is the remaining amount of the nearly €4 billion budgeted by the executive branch for the entire supplementary credit package—Parliament has already approved the first two packages: €2.168 billion and €1.301 billion. What have the Republicans agreed to in return? The creation of 200 new positions for the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) to scale it and enable it to collect personal income tax next year, as well as the selection of a new physical headquarters for the agency later this year. The agreement also provides for the establishment of the new Cercanías operator by June 30th and that a building will also be sought to house the company throughout 2025.

These are steps to materialize two of the major agreements that the Republicans had agreed with the Socialists for the investitures of Pedro Sánchez and Salvador Illa: a new financing model for Catalonia and the transfer of Cercanías. A few months ago, the Government already announced a first step to expand the structure of the ATC with the creation of 90 structural positions –and 102 temporary ones for the 2025 income tax campaign–. Now, before June 30th, 200 new positions should be created, 40 of which were already part of the package of 90 announced a few weeks ago by the Government, as explained by the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, in a press conference (for the remaining 50, calls have already begun this spring). That is, in practice, 160 new positions will be created. The objective is for the Agency to be prepared to collect personal income tax, one of the first challenges the agency will face in order to begin to materialize the new funding.

In this sense, the agreement also establishes that before July 31st, the Government will have drafted a "master plan for the progressive implementation of personal income tax in the ATC." Despite including the word "progressive," Romero maintains the commitment that all personal income tax will be collected by 2026, as established in the investiture agreement. "The investiture agreement states that it must be collected throughout 2026, which is why we have implemented it progressively. In any case, all personal income tax must be collected in 2026," Romero stated. Meanwhile, the Republicans and Socialists have once again put in writing that all the details for finalizing the new financing must be provided before June 30, a commitment that was already established in the agreement to invest Salvador Illa.

The new commuter rail operator

The Catalan government and ERC have also agreed that the new commuter rail operator will be incorporated by June 30. However, one of the key steps to preparing this company, the bylaws, should have been made public in March. Two months later, ERC spokesperson Isaac Albert assures that these bylaws have been drafted, but that the Socialists and Republicans are still exchanging texts to finalize all the details. One of the agreements that should be reflected in some way in the company's incorporation is the transitional period. two years during which the company will continue to belong to Renfe as a subsidiary.

In addition to developing these two investiture agreements, the pact also includes more money to finance free I2 courses in daycare centers, but does not yet specify extending this free tuition to I1 next year, as established in the investiture agreement. The agreement speaks of increasing the budget allocated by the Generalitat (Catalan government) to I2, from €1,600 to €1,800 per place. Regarding housing, the Republicans have also agreed to allocate €200 million for building renovations between 2026 and 2028, a measure that could be included in the Barris Plan announced by Salvador Illa on Monday.

The other investiture agreements

The pact again incorporates points that were already part of the investiture agreement of both Isla and Sánchez but that are still pending development, as is the case of National Pact for Language, signed a few days ago. On this point, ERC claims it has agreed to add an additional 15 million to the budgeted 255 million. One of the points included in Salvador Illa's investiture agreement was also the creation of a consortium to oversee the execution of state investments. At this time, this matter has not materialized, although in the last bilateral commission A working group was agreed to be operational before the end of the year.Given the slow pace of implementing the measure, the Republicans have agreed with the Catalan government to create an "observatory of state investment in Catalonia," which would include social and economic stakeholders from Catalonia and the four political parties with the greatest institutional representation, among others.

Converting the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) into a public bank was another of the investiture commitments, and now they have set a date for the Bank of Spain to apply for a banking license before July 31st. No steps have been taken to promote Catalan national sports teams, which is why the office the Catalan government was supposed to create is set to be created before the end of the year. Finally, regarding the government's foreign policy, both parties have agreed that before September the executive will present a plan to "strengthen" the network of delegations abroad, which has yet to be specified.