Salvador Illa makes the gesture demanded by ERC for the budget: "My commitment to the management of personal income tax is total"

BarcelonaERC was demanding a gesture from the Socialist Party (PSOE) to unblock budget negotiations, specifically a commitment to Catalonia's handling of personal income tax (IRPF) revenue. This gesture, for now, will not come from the PSOE, as the Republicans initially hoped. However, this morning, the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, explicitly stated his "total" commitment to ensuring Catalonia assumes responsibility for IRPF collection. "My commitment to advancing the management of IRPF and the Catalan Treasury is total," Illa affirmed. What will this translate to? In a brief address, delivered without taking questions during the meeting of the Generalitat's Technical Council, the head of the Catalan government offered no details, but did state that he would "promote agreements and parliamentary initiatives to make it possible." This Saturday, Esquerra Republicana (ERC) will hold its national council meeting, where it will assess whether this gesture from the president is sufficient to begin budget negotiations. Prior to this, the party leadership has called an executive meeting for 8:30 a.m., according to sources consulted by ARA. An extraordinary meeting is scheduled to determine the budget.

Sources consulted by ARA explain that Esquerra Republicana (ERC) has demanded that the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) commit to voting in favor of the amendments the Republicans plan to present to the new regional financing law. Are these the "parliamentary agreements and initiatives" that Isla has pledged to promote? The president has not clarified. The idea was to include in these amendments the legal framework for the Catalan Tax Agency to collect income tax, that is, what was previously included in the bill that ERC has withdrawn from Congress pending an agreement with the SocialistsThe Republicans, in fact, intend to replace this rule with the one that will regulate the investment consortium agreed upon for Isla's investiture, and on which ERC is finalizing an agreement with the Spanish government.

While awaiting a statement from Oriol Junqueras' party, Illa reiterated his "commitment" to fulfilling the investiture agreements, from the new financing model to the amnesty, he reminded everyone. Regarding financing, Illa has once again pledged to implement it: "I know what we must do, I know how to do it, and I know we will do it," he insisted. The head of the Catalan government stated that he is "proud" of all the investiture agreements signed and insisted that his objective is "to ensure their scrupulous implementation."

The Treasury's position

However, beyond Isla's commitment, the ball remains in the court of the Ministry of Finance, which has so far refused to unblock the collection of personal income tax (IRPF). This issue has been stalled since the summer, when the Republicans decided to shelve the law that was meant to legally empower the Catalan Tax Agency (Agència Tributària de Catalunya) to collect IRPF. The Spanish government has been gradually reducing the commitment it made during Salvador Illa's investiture, when The PSOE federal committee endorsed the agreement with the Republicans that this issue included.

For ERC, including the Catalan Socialists would be a form of joint pressure on the PSOE from Catalonia. However, for the moment, Illa has not guaranteed that the PSC is willing to vote in favor of the amendments that must include the collection of personal income tax if the PSOE does not. Without the Spanish Socialists being part of the equation, Isla's commitment may remain worthless.

The personal income tax collection issue is what Esquerra had set as a condition. sine qua non to negotiate the budgets, although lately he has been lowering his short-term demands: if a few weeks ago he said the same Junqueras demanded that the agreement be finalized.In recent days it had become clear that they were giving the PSOE more time and that They would be content with taking steps forwardIn fact, the Catalan government, with the backing of Esquerra Republicana, had already extended the deadline for the ATC (Centralized Temporary Storage Facility) to be ready to collect income tax. While the investiture agreement set 2026 as the year in which Catalonia should begin collecting income tax, the government's plan does not set that date until 2028. Negotiations for the budget are expected to begin immediately, and both sides want them to be quick. In fact, the government was already working with this in mind. to approve the bill in the executive council The budget process will begin next week in Parliament. The budget agreement with the other essential partner, Comuns, was signed this Thursday.