After the failure of negotiations to transfer the collection of IRPF (one of the issues agreed between ERC and PSC for the investiture of Salvador Illa), Junqueras has assured that his party maintains its plan to claim it again through amendments to the financing law. However, if this norm ends up failing, the Republican leader has assured that they do not renounce "any path" to try to obtain this competence from the State. That is, he has not closed the door to re-submitting a bill on their own as they did last year. Without an agreement with the PSOE, however, it would be a dead letter.
The governability of the State
Sánchez sets a date for the new financing
The Spanish government will take the proposal agreed with ERC to the meeting of the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy on July 29
Upd. 19
3 min
Barcelona / MadridWhile the Spanish legislature is alive, the Spanish government maintains steps to try to bring the new regional financing model to light. With what calendar is it working? Once the Andalusian elections are over – in which the former vice-president and former Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, ran as a candidate –, the state executive has reactivated the machinery and has set a new meeting of the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy (CPFF) for Wednesday, July 29, which should serve to put on the table the new financing system that the socialists agreed with ERC (and presented in January). Previously, on July 14, the Spanish government will hold a preparatory technical meeting with all the autonomous communities and that week it will distribute the concrete proposal to all communities. The next step will be for the Council of Ministers to approve the proposal to then send it to Congress, probably in September. And there, it still has to win the necessary support for this new model to see the light.
"It is very difficult to understand those who do not want to sit down to negotiate," said the Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, after the CPFF meeting this Monday, which served to transfer the spending limits for the regional and municipal governments for next year. Neither España nor the PP's regional councilors wanted to bring up the issue of financing at the meeting, even though the popular party maintains its 'no' to the proposal agreed with ERC. "Today the topic on the table is another: approving the budgetary stability objectives, and there will be time to talk about the financing model," defended the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, in statements to the media.
The few messages of pressure that have arrived from Madrid have been through España, who has accused the PP's leadership of wanting to "block" the new financing system. From Catalonia, ERC and PSC have joined forces to ask Junts to change its position and validate the new model. So far, Junts has refused to give its 'yes' because they consider the agreement to be insufficient and continue to defend the economic concert. "I hope all parties will rise to the occasion," asked the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, in an interview with RAC1. In fact, he assured that he maintains "open lines of dialogue" with Junts, but did not want to reveal if he had spoken with former president Carles Puigdemont.
The leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, has also joined, demanding "maximum responsibility" from Puigdemont's party for this new model to see the light of day. However, he also did not want to explain if he plans to meet with the former president of the Generalitat –as he did a few months ago, when they met in Waterloo to discuss precisely this issue–. "Catalonia cannot afford to throw away the income that will be derived from the new financing model," he warned at a press conference, after recalling that the Principality would receive 4,700 million euros.
Junts' position
Will Junts directly reject the financing proposal when it enters Congress in the fall? Consulted sources suggest they will allow the law to be processed in Congress, meaning they will not veto it from the outset. The juntaires plan to present a full amendment with an alternative text, which will allow them to vote on their own economic concert document and not endorse that of the PP and Vox – who will also present their own. In this way, none of the three amendments would move forward, and the norm could pass Congress's first filter. However, in practice, this move is kicking the can down the road and does not guarantee that Junts will ultimately endorse the proposal, as they maintain it is entirely insufficient.
Will they do the same with the forgiveness of part of the FLA debt? The proposal is scheduled to be debated the week of July 20 in Congress, and the juntaires emphasize that they have never said they would vote against it. Therefore, they are debating between voting in favor or abstaining, but with the objective that this forgiveness goes ahead. However, during the amendment process, they will defend the total forgiveness of the debt.
The transfer of IRPF collection
