Montero cools off singular funding: says it will not be done separately from other communities

BarcelonaWhen Esquerra and the PSC sealed the investiture agreement to elect Salvador Illa president of the Generalitat, the Republicans asserted that the pact required unique financing—they dubbed it a "solidarity economic agreement"—and Catalonia's withdrawal from the common system of autonomous communities. However, the matter is now in the hands of the State, with whom Esquerra has also negotiated in recent weeks, and for now, the Spanish government is resisting allowing Catalan finances to be withdrawn from the Lofca (Spanish Socialist Workers' Union). This was stated this Sunday by the Vice President of the Spanish Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero. in an interview in The Mail of Andalusia, the region in which she herself will run as a candidate in next year's regional elections.

"Regarding signing a unique financing plan for Catalonia outside of a reform of the financing model for all the regions, we have always said no. The next financing model [the current one expired in 2014] will have to incorporate recognition of the singularities and territorial diversity of our country for everyone, not just for Catalonia," she stated. A way of equating the unique financing agreed between the PSC and ERC to a classic negotiation of the financing model for all the autonomous communities, but taking into account criteria that had not been considered until now, the so-called "singularities."

The Finance Minister's statements come just the day after the announcement, The Catalan government has announced the meeting of the bilateral commission with the Spanish state on July 14th. At this meeting, according to sources consulted by ARA, they intend to agree on the "foundations" of the model, as well as some issues related to the collection of personal income tax, which, according to the ERC-PSC pact, was to be collected by the Catalan Tax Agency starting in 2026. In fact, the agreement was intended to be a solidarity agreement with the rest of the country. Esquerra has already warned that if they do not comply with the agreement, both Isla and the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, can forget about next year's budget—neither of them has had one this year—and also about sealing any other major pact.

The financing negotiations are being conducted on a three-way basis: the Generalitat (Catalan government), the Spanish government, and the ERC (Republican Revolutionary Party). For the Spanish government, the interlocutor is precisely Vice President Montero, whom the Republicans accuse of being unfocused on unblocking the talks and meeting established deadlines. Montero is the candidate for next year's Andalusian regional elections, and Oriol Junqueras's party believes this is the task that most concerns her and is conditioning her. They don't see the same thing in the Generalitat (Catalan government), which they believe is doing its part.

Pedro Sánchez's weakness

Be that as it may, the financing negotiations come at a time of maximum weakness for Pedro Sánchez, following the outbreak of the Santos Cerdán case, where he is set to appear before a judge this Monday for allegedly receiving commissions in exchange for public works. This weekend, new voices have been added to the call for the Spanish president to step down: on the one hand, shouts against Sánchez were heard at the demonstration of judges and prosecutors this Saturday outside the Supreme Court to protest the justice reform being prepared by the Spanish government, but there is also a letter signed by public figures and former Socialist leaders.

This manifesto is signed by, among others, five former PSOE ministers: Jordi Sevilla, Virgilio Zapatero, Julián García Vargas, César Antonio Molina, and Javier Sáenz de Cosculluela. They express their "deep concern" about the situation within the party and call for the "ethical regeneration" of the PSOE, which they believe is "an unavoidable imperative." Furthermore, the signatories assert that cases of corruption are not only due to individual and isolated conduct, but are "the result of a way of conducting politics and understanding power that is divorced from morality and ethics." Therefore, they demand the "urgent" calling of new elections throughout Spain.