Salvador Illa clashes with the President of Galicia over financing

BarcelonaIt was a debate with a predictable conclusion: a clash between the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the President of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda. The former, a staunch defender of the new financing model agreed between the PSOE and ERC; the latter, representing the PP, as a detractor of the proposal. And in between, Imanol Pradales, the Basque lehendakari, who watched from the sidelines defending his economic concert as a "rara avis" in Spain. All this, in a round table at this year's conference of the Cercle d'Economia. "I don't want any advantage or privilege for Catalonia, but I also don't want us to be left behind," argued Illa, before adding that Catalonia "will not ask for permission to lead and to make respectful proposals." "I will not ask anyone for permission either, but an agreement must be reached," Rueda replied.

the meetings called this week to address the financing reformFor Rueda, however, the problem is that the model has been negotiated with ERC and not with the PP and the autonomous communities it governs. "With closed proposals, it will be almost impossible," he stressed. In fact, the Galician president also does not endorse the bilateralism that both Illa and Pradales have defended. "It's a divide and conquer," he lamented. In fact, Rueda has closed the door to meeting with the Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, in the meetings he has convened this week to address the financing reform.

The autonomous model

the motion of no confidence that the PP has in its handscoffee for everyone." "It came to denature what had been constitutionally recognized as nationalities and regions [...]. It has led to a series of erosions of competencies that Euskadi had assumed."

And what about the immediate future? As expected, Illa and Rueda have clashed again. The Catalan president has given life to the Spanish government –"There is still room for the legislature," he said– and, in fact, has issued a warning about the alternative on the other side: "I don't see a conservative alternative, but an alternative that, under the influence of Vox, is regressive." In contrast, Rueda has repeated the thesis that the PP has been using for weeks: the judicial cases surrounding the PSOE make the situation unsustainable and early elections are needed to "open a new era."

He did not refer, however, to the motion of no confidence that the PP has in its hands, but it is not willing to move forward without guaranteed support. It needs Vox's support, but also that of Junts and the PNB, who for the moment are closing the door to avoid entering into an equation with the far-right. Precisely, Pradales has been more cautious, who, despite his party calling for early elections, has warned that a change of government in the State with the influence of Vox would be counterproductive for Euskadi: "They want to end the state of autonomies and question Basque self-government."