Salvador Illa is backing the Juntos party for the second time and will not negotiate the budget.

BarcelonaTogether, the coalition is once again stumping Salvador Illa's government in the 2026 budget negotiations. As he did last year, has withdrawn from the talks for the new budget, considering that the pacts the PSC maintains with Esquerra and Comuns are "incompatible" with its national vision. This was confirmed by the secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, in an interview with the Efe news agency. "Isla represents the denationalization of Catalan institutions. We cannot support even a blank check for these policies. We are the alternative. Isla represents the antithesis of policies that are more necessary than ever for the middle class," he stated.

For Junts, the problem is that the PSC lacks a "state mentality" and will never oppose what the PSOE defends in Madrid. But the Junts members also criticize the Socialists for not being willing to lower taxes to end the "tax hell" that, according to Turull, the Catalan middle classes are experiencing. Fiscal policy and the fight against jobs were what Junts put at the center The last time he opened talks on a Catalan budget was for 2024, when he was in opposition to Pere Aragonès's government. At the time, he asked the Republicans to eliminate the inheritance and wealth taxes. Esquerra (Republican Left) rejected the proposal and ultimately ended up striking a deal with the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). When Comuns (Comuns) didn't join in, due to the Hard Rock veto, the project fell through, and Aragonès called elections.

In the hands of the two investiture partners

Although the Catalan government maintains that it aspires to the broadest possible agreements, the refusal of the regional council members to open negotiations falls within the expectations of the Catalan executive, which is looking to the ERC and Comuns (Communist Left) to approve its first budget (it is currently governing with the 2023 budget, which has been extended). Last year, it was unable to do so after ERC—which was barely emerging from the bitter primaries that Oriol Junqueras ultimately won—closed the door. The government threw in the towel and then focused on negotiating the credit supplements, which have allowed the incorporation of almost 4 billion extra in public finances Catalans. This year Junqueras has warned the socialists that, if they want to have budgets, both in Catalonia and in Spain, it is necessary to make specific progress in individual financing, which was left in the air before the holidays.

Compliance with these agreements (and those of the investiture) is what the Comuns will demand as a precondition for sitting down to negotiate this project with the Government. The Comuns spokesperson in Parliament, David Cid, stated in an interview with Nació Digital this Saturday that they will not give Isla a "blank check," although he also admitted that not having accounts by 2026 would be a "failure of the country." The Comuns are particularly concerned about the lack of compliance with commitments in the area of housing and have asked the Government to meet in September to discuss this matter. Progress is still pending on the regulation of seasonal rentals, as well as on the inspection corps for applying the sanctions under the housing law and on the registration of large property owners.