ERC presents a comprehensive amendment to the Government's budget.

BarcelonaEsquerra Republicana presented a comprehensive amendment to the Catalan government's budget on Tuesday. The Republicans explained last week that if talks with the government continued without progress, They would flatly refuse to sit down to negotiate the accounts.Seven days later, this warning was confirmed by the general secretary of ERC, Elisenda Alamany, who, in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, reiterated that the party sees no "guarantees" to open talks on the figures presented by the Catalan government last week. ERC maintains that, without a gesture from the Spanish government demonstrating their willingness to cede to Catalonia the power to collect personal income tax (IRPF), they will not negotiate Salvador Illa's budget. At the Palau de la Generalitat (the Catalan government headquarters), they are not throwing in the towel and insist there is room for agreement: "The government's position remains unchanged," said the minister and spokesperson, Sílvia Paneque. "I believe this is the coherent mechanism in light of our position. Esquerra Republicana will not endorse the Catalan government's resignation to the PSOE," warned the ERC's second-in-command, who also indicated her willingness to withdraw the amendment if the Spanish government makes a gesture regarding the IRPF. Talks between the Republicans and the Catalan government remain open. Just this Monday, the two sides met again, according to sources familiar with the matter consulted by ARA, but the meeting failed to resolve the impasse over the Personal Income Tax (IRPF). Dialogue between Esquerra Republicana (ERC) and the Spanish government is also ongoing. "There is room for maneuver and we have enough time for what we agreed upon to materialize," stated ERC spokesperson in the Catalan Parliament, Ester Capella, at a press conference. Oriol Junqueras's party had scheduled the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) meeting for early March. as a key date for the state executive to demonstrate its commitment to the IRPF (Personal Income Tax).At this point, however, this meeting with all the regional finance ministers has no date and is up in the air. "We are not in a scenario where there will be a Fiscal and Financial Policy Council; we don't have a date. Nor do we know, if there were to be one, what the [Finance] Minister would bring and what she would explain," Capella acknowledged.

The plan envisioned weeks ago was that this meeting It will be held in March and the Ministry of Finance will present the necessary legislative modifications. To implement the new financing model that Minister María Jesús Montero announced in January—leaving the door open to transferring personal income tax revenue—this is the preliminary step before it can begin its legislative process in Congress. The Republicans maintain, however, that the Catalan government should pressure the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and not ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia): "It's not up to us to go where the PSC (Socialist Party of Catalonia) doesn't want to go with its colleagues in the central government," Alamany argued.

Early elections?

Therefore, the figures presented by the Catalan government last week are not, at this point, guaranteed to be approved. The government refuses to take a position on any scenario that involves the Republicans rejecting a budget that increases spending by 9 billion euros compared to 2023, and insists that this new injection of resources into the public coffers is also necessary to fulfill the investiture agreements. Paneque has avoided clarifying whether the executive would call early elections if the Catalan Parliament rejects what would be the first budget of the PSC government, after the Republicans' rejection last year already prevented negotiations from beginning. "The only scenario we are considering is the budget. We don't like to anticipate possibilities," he stated. One of the major obstacles facing the government, however, is that what ERC is demanding depends on the Ministry of Finance, not on the Catalan Socialists. Despite this, the regional minister emphasized that they continue "working to comply," and highlighted agreements that the central government initially resisted but later ultimately honored. According to the regional government, this was the case with the new funding model and the transfer of the commuter rail service. And what are they saying in Madrid? For now, according to informed sources, the Ministry of Finance is completely closed off and flatly rejects any concessions regarding income tax. However, extending an olive branch, the spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office, Elma Saiz, admitted that there is no agreement, but also stated that they will continue to engage in dialogue. —Núria Orriols Guiu reports.

The plenary session of March 20

The real test for the Catalan Socialists will be on March 20th, when the full debate on the budget is scheduled in the Catalan Parliament. This means that the amendments submitted by the various groups—in addition to ERC, Junts, the PP, the CUP, Vox, and Aliança Catalana have also submitted or will submit them—will be debated. If the Catalan government arrives without an agreement with the Republicans, the budget will be worthless, but at this point, the executive is not considering withdrawing it to avoid a parliamentary defeat. Paneque added that they will work "until the very last minute" to reach an understanding. The spokesperson also ruled out approaching Junts even if Oriol Junqueras' party maintains its opposition, because the executive wants the budget to be approved by its investiture partners, ERC and Comuns. "That is the government's intention, and it will not consider any other," Paneque emphasized. In any case, the Junts members reiterate that the PSC's project is diametrically opposed to their own and even call on ERC not to support it in an attempt to rebuild pro-independence unity. "This government should not have the support of any democrat," said Junts deputy Francesc de Dalmases, during the appearance of the Minister of European Union and Foreign Action, Jaume Duch, regarding the budget. Dalmases accused the government of violating the "human rights" of pro-independence demonstrators while waving the banner of promoting world peace, and accused the minister "of having been an active participant in the repression" during his time in the European Parliament.