ERC guarantees special funding "this week," but Junts warns that it will reject it if there is no agreement.

BarcelonaThe countdown to a new regional financing model is nearing its end. Both ERC and the Catalan government agree that the announcement of the agreement is "imminent," pending the meeting between Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and ERC leader Oriol Junqueras, scheduled for Thursday at Moncloa Palace, to break the deadlock in reaching an understanding. "There must be an agreement on Catalonia's financing this week," declared the Republican spokesperson, Isaac Albert, in an interview. The morning of Catalunya RàdioThe government is also optimistic about the outcome of the talks, without which the Republicans have been warning for months that they will not sit down with Salvador Illa's administration to negotiate the 2026 budget. However, the agreement will still have to overcome another obstacle that is already emerging: "Juntos has warned that it will not support voting for it in Congress."

What is known so far about the new special financing? According to Albert, the figure for the increase in resources that Catalonia will receive is already "finalized," and would be around 5 billion euros. The agreement "will respect the principle of ordinality," one of the main points of contention between the Catalan and state negotiators in recent months. "We are the third largest contributor [of resources] and we must be the third largest recipient [of resources] once the model is approved," Albert said. For his part, the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, has assured that the Catalan executive has "always" worked with a clear purpose. as Isla already promised during the Catalan campaignHowever, in the document produced by the Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission in July, this principle It only appeared in the preamble, without being formalized as a true commitmentThis raised alarm bells for ERC, which has positioned it as a "non-negotiable" element in recent months. The teams are already finalizing the details of the new model and its "unique features," which will be extended to the other autonomous communities, but there are still pending issues requiring specific timelines that the Republicans want to discuss with Sánchez this Thursday. These include tax collection and the regulatory powers that Catalonia would have, as well as the investment consortium in the Principality. The Catalan government maintains that, with the necessary regulatory changes, the Catalan Tax Agency can be in a position to operate effectively. to assume full management of personal income tax in 2028 –two years later than initially agreed with ERC–. In this regard, Albert reminded the Socialists that funding alone is not enough for Salvador Illa to count on their votes for the Catalan budget: "There will be no budget in the Generalitat until the revenue figures are clarified."

La Moncloa, in profile

However, the Moncloa Palace is avoiding taking the agreement for granted and revealing any details of the model that Finance Minister María Jesús Montero will later have to defend at the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, where she will face opposition from the PP-governed regions. At the press conference following the first cabinet meeting of the year, the Spanish government spokesperson, Elma Saiz, emphasized that the meeting between Sánchez and Junqueras aims to "follow up on the agreement with ERC" and will address other issues related to the legislature and the international context. Saiz stressed that the First Vice President, María Jesús Montero, is responsible for providing details about the new financing model, and "she will do so when the time is right"—it could be as early as this Friday. This is a position also defended by the Catalan government on Wednesday, when asked for more specifics on how much more resources Catalonia will gain under the new model. Sources within the Spanish government insisted on framing the meeting between Sánchez and Junqueras as "normal" and maintained that they must proceed "step by step." The meeting will take place at 11:00 AM at the Moncloa Palace, and the Spanish government has ruled out holding a press conference afterward. However, statements from the leader of Esquerra Republicana (ERC) are expected. The other challenge that both ERC and the Socialists acknowledge they face is the approval of the proposed model in Congress once it is presented. Therefore, the votes of the plurinational majority—from Junts to Compromís and the BNG, as well as Podemos—are crucial. On this point, Albert emphasized that the model benefits Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community, but also Andalusia, resulting in an overall gain. "If Junts can modify and improve this agreement during the parliamentary process, they will have our support, and we will work together," he concluded. Although the spokesperson admitted that the Republicans are in talks "with partners and colleagues in other regions," he emphasized that it is "the job of the Spanish government" to gather the necessary support in Congress to pass the new model. For its part, the People's Party (PP) maintains its rejection of the future special funding arrangement and refers to the document that Alberto Núñez Feijóo signed with the males Popular parties in September 2024 are betting on multilateralism, although you see how the Balearic president, Marga Prohens, has asked that the new model respect ordinality.

Together they demand a "concerted agreement"

While awaiting the details of the agreement, Junts was emphatic in its defense of the economic agreement as a key condition for giving the green light to Congress, and recalled that, in the past, the Republicans promised that Catalonia would have "the key to the coffers." At a press conference, the leader of Junts in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, concluded that "an update of the current financing model"—which has been outdated for over a decade—would be a "scam": "Junqueras himself said that any other alternative would be a failure." The leader of Junts in Madrid called on ERC to "take advantage" of the "extreme weakness" of the national government, which has been tainted by the Ábalos and Cerdán case. the crisis with Paco Salazar and the debacle in Extremadura, to make the "leap forward" of the agreement. The members of the regional assembly, therefore, are "open" to achieving an economic agreement like the Basque Country's, but not through reforms of the current model.

Nogueras's words have not pleased the Catalan government, which believes that Carles Puigdemont's party is already attacking the new model before it is even made public. In a press conference, spokesperson and minister Sílvia Paneque urged them to reflect on whether the new financing "improves or not" the situation in Catalonia, and to vote accordingly. She made the same request regarding the partial forgiveness of the FLA debt, which is pending a vote in Congress. and that it would save a debt of 17 billion in Catalonia. In any case, the Catalan government also approved its participation in this year's Regional Liquidity Fund (FLA) on Wednesday, without specifying the amount it will request. Speaking to TV3, the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, took the opportunity to reiterate that this special funding should also "help" improve the Generalitat's financial situation and prevent over-indebtedness.