Feijóo's headache with debt forgiveness: will PP communities take advantage of it?

MadridAlberto Núñez Feijóo has been making moves for months to try to protect himself against Pedro Sánchez's attempts to attract the regional presidents of the PP with the promise of more resources. When at the beginning of September last year the president of the Spanish government promised more money for all the communities with a new financing system, the popular leader called the representatives of the 14 territories where he governs for to form a common front against these siren songs. Now Sánchez returns with the call this Wednesday of the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF), in which he will propose to forgive 83.2 billion euros of debt. A measure that, apart from Catalonia, especially benefits other communities governed by the PP, such as Andalusia and the Valencian Community. Faced with the risk of a break in ranks, Feijóo was already quick to publicly mark his position for all of them yesterday.

"The PP presidents will vote no. No to inequality, to rewarding poor management, to privileges and to buying the separatists with cash payment with money from all Spaniards," he said at a press conference after the announcement of the agreement between the Spanish executive and ERC. The regional presidents are currently closing ranks. The most belligerent against debt forgiveness has been Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who always sets the party's hardest line and in this case, in addition, is one of the least interested in the extent to which the Community of Madrid is one of the least indebted regions and does not use the regional liquidity fund (FLA). However, the rest have expressed the same position, denouncing the supposed "privileges" in Catalonia and arguing that this proposal "does not serve them" because what is needed is a profound reform of the financing model and a restructuring - and not forgiveness - of the debt. If the debt forgiveness mechanism is approved – a law passed in Congress is needed in addition to a vote in the CPFF – it will be voluntary for the communities. Will the PP communities not take advantage of it?

The vote against the PP communities in the CPFF will not prevent the approval of the Spanish government's proposal. Once the tax forgiveness is developed in an organic law and approved in Congress, where it could be approved again without the Popular Party, the autonomous communities will be able to voluntarily accept it. This is precisely what the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, has stressed, who has recalled that the Spanish government has half of the votes in the CPFF and, therefore, it is not necessary for the PP regional presidents to vote in favour this week for it to prosper. "The PP can allow itself the luxury of saying that it is against it because it knows that it will benefit equally," he said to RNE.

It remains to be seen whether, when Catalonia and other autonomous communities governed by the socialists accept the forgiveness, the PP maintains the same position without any loopholes. From Catalonia, the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, has expressed confidence that, when the time comes, the Popular Party will give in: "I'm betting a lot that they will all participate," he said on TV3. For his part, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, considered that it would be "inexplicable and partisan" for them to reject it and recalled that Andalusia, in the hands of Juanma Moreno, is the autonomous region that will have the most debt forgiven. For the moment, apart from the PSOE, other parties that are in the opposition in territories such as Galicia are already taking advantage of the opportunity to wear him down with this weapon. The BNG, for example, has warned the Popular Party president Alfonso Rueda that he will be "betraying the interests of his country" if he rejects Galicia being forgiven the part assigned to it.

No debate on the question of confidence

The same week that Feijóo sees how the Spanish government tries to break the unity of the PP once again, the popular leader has been left without a golden opportunity to wear down Sánchez. With Junts' decision to withdraw the non-legislative proposal (PNL) from Congress which called on the head of the Spanish executive to submit to a vote of confidence, the PP will not be able to use their votes to bring about a symbolic defeat of the Socialist Party that would fuel the narrative that the majority that the Spanish government supports in Congress is broken.

In parallel, Feijóo is involved in a clash with his preferred partner both in the lower house and in the autonomous communities governed by the PP. Vox is putting pressure on the leader of the PP while consolidating its international alliances with Donald Trump and Patriotes for Europe, and even more so after the good results of the German far right. After weeks of avoiding confrontation, the PP president has opted to strengthen a pro-European position, cold towards the US president and aligned with Ukraine. "Let them save the lessons in patriotism," Feijóo said yesterday about the criticism directed at him by the far-right party. Demonstrations that push back the possibility that the territories that reject debt forgiveness will be able to approve budgets this 2025.