Saving payrolls and the tariff plan: the government paves the way to give the accounts a boost

BarcelonaWith the budgets extended, the Catalan government can only survive and guarantee the day-to-day financial operations of the Generalitat through additional credit. The executive branch had estimated around €4 billion to bolster its public finances, and of these, 2,100 were already approved by the end of March, after reaching an agreement with the two investiture partners, ERC and Comuns. These two groups are also willing to validate the second part of this credit supplement, which the executive had estimated at 1.8 billion. This amount will ultimately be split into two parts: the first, 1.3 billion, should be validated by next week's executive council; and the remaining 500 million will be negotiated later, towards the end of May. Esquerra (Republican Left) was in favor of doing it in three parts, while Comuns (Commons) left the decision to the executive, although they insist that their objective is to close a "global agreement" for all the injections of public money.

What do the 1.3 billion euros include? 1 billion will go toward public workers' payroll expenses and to cover the increase in the CPI, while the remaining 300 million are for the The plan designed by Salvador Illa's administration to confront Donald Trump's tariff warIt's on those 300 million euros that ERC is focusing. The Republicans have requested some changes to validate it. They demand that the aid not only go to exporting companies, but also include companies that export indirectly, in addition to guaranteeing jobs. However, following the recent hailstorm a few days ago in the Lleida region, Oriol Junqueras's party has also asked the Government to include an aid plan for affected farmers. The Government itself guaranteed measures to defend the peasantry last weekend.

The third package of the credit supplement

For the 500 million euros still to be negotiated, ERC is awaiting the finalization of some investiture agreements, such as the commuter rail network and the new financing model, to establish its priorities for this third additional credit package. In fact, the Republicans say this third package won't be finalized until late May or early June; according to the investiture agreement, the new financing system must be agreed upon with the state during the first half of the year. Comuns (Communists) has no objection to Trump's plan to combat tariffs, but they have set conditions for the overall negotiation, which relate to two issues: housing and healthcare. In the first, they demand the establishment of a force of at least 100 inspectors to impose fines on those who violate the rent cap—an issue that has been dragging on for months—an anti-eviction unit, and a total of 850 million euros for the Generalitat's housing policies.

On the other hand, and in the second folder, Comuns calls for using the supplement to implement the oral health law with 13 million euros, launch a psychological care program for young people, and guarantee access to primary care within 48 hours. Furthermore, they are also negotiating with the Catalan government to allocate 20 million euros to L'Energètica, the public renewable energy company, as reported by Catalunya Ràdio and confirmed by ARA. Sources within the group indicate that they have yet to close an agreement with the government, but they are aware that time is running out and that, in order to use the supplement money by the end of the year, it is necessary for Parliament to approve it as soon as possible. In fact, the executive's idea is for this money to be available by summer: they believe that doing so later would be pointless, because the Generalitat could have liquidity problems and also because they believe the investments to be materialized would be late.