The arrival of Arcadi España gives an "opportunity" for negotiation with ERC

BarcelonaCarlos Cuerpo and Arcadi España have moved up a rung in the Spanish government after the departure of María Jesús Montero. The hitherto number two in the Spanish executive, however, not only hands over the first vice-presidency and the Ministry of Finance, but also the negotiating power with the so-called Catalan file. Specifically, Arcadi España will be the one to tackle the hot potato of materializing the new financing and reopening talks with Esquerra after the transfer of the IRPF derailed. España was one of the strong men of Ximo Puig's Valencian government and those who know him define him as a convinced federalist and Valencianist, as well as being a firm defender of new regional financing. In fact, he endorses the reform that Montero agreed with ERC. And what do PSC and ERC think of the new minister? The Republicans view him favorably for giving a new "opportunity" to negotiations.In Palau they also look hopefully at the new minister, whom a voice from the Catalan socialists describes as "receptive" to the demands of Catalonia, many of them coinciding with those of the Valencian Country."Arcadi is social democracy made politician, dialogue made ruler, common sense made person," wrote former Valencian president Ximo Puig in a message on X after his appointment was made public. In statements to el ARA, he reaffirms: "He is a person with an open disposition, without closed dogmatisms, with the capacity to listen and empathy." España was Puig's chief of staff during his time in Madrid, also when he was general secretary of the PSPV and when he presided over the Generalitat Valenciana, and subsequently served as minister of Territorial Policy and also of Finance. "Federalism is part of his political culture," defends Puig, who recalls that he is one of the people who has most defended new regional financing within the PSOE. In fact, this is one of the issues that Esquerra values.

Beyond his federalist convictions, two people who know him closely, because they worked with him during his time in the Valencian government, also describe him as "a very good negotiator". "He has a very open demeanor, he is a dialoguer and patient," points out one of these people, who recalls that Spain was one of the interlocutors with Compromís and Podemos during the government of the Botànic. "He is a born negotiator, a huge value and asset," reaffirms another voice that knows him closely. "He is the best heir that María Jesús Montero could have," he adds.

The precedents of the relationship with the PSC are good: "We worked on financing in the last PSOE congress and there we already verified that he is a very solvent politician and manager, who takes great care of appearances and always opts for dialogue," explains to el ARA the Minister of Economy, Alicia Romero. She also has good words for Montero, despite the tug-of-war with the Republicans that ended up conditioning the budget negotiation. She describes her as a "bold, intelligent and tireless worker" politician, and affable in one-on-one dealings. "Negotiating with her is a real learning experience, in the sense that she defends her positions very well," acknowledges the minister, who, despite this, emphasizes that Montero became an "ally" of Catalonia in the financing negotiation, aware of the resource deficit it suffers from.

The Montero factor

Precisely, Spain has on the table the challenge of reopening negotiations with ERC after it derailed in the transfer of IRPF revenue due to the 'no' from María Jesús Montero. The republicans consider that her profile "can help" the negotiation, but they also admit that the political moment "is what it is," point out sources from the leadership. Esquerra had put Montero in their sights in the negotiation because they saw her as the obstacle to the transfer of IRPF revenue, after the first clash they had in the negotiation for the forgiveness of the FLA. The republicans, however, already assumed weeks ago that the problem was not strictly the Minister of Finance, but that her position was from the entire socialist wing of the Spanish government, precisely because of the political weight Montero, now a PSOE candidate for the Andalusian elections, had. "She carries a lot of weight," points out a person who has negotiated.

Those who have sat at the negotiation table with her –both from the PSC and ERC– agree that she is "tough" when it comes to defending her positions, but also that she is straightforward. The clearest example has been with the IRPF: Montero was reluctant from the start and, while she has held the reins of this transfer, she has been inflexible. Esquerra tried to open the IRPF file last summer, but had to put it away in a drawer because they realized that on the other side there was a wall, which they have not yet managed to jump over.

In fact, while negotiating the new financing model, they tried to open this file several times without success. For months, the Ministry of Finance did not even include this point on the agenda. "She set the political red lines," explains a negotiating voice, who admits that she was also "frank" when marking how far she could go. "The complexity is not created by Montero, but by the definition of the Spanish state. She has expressed the limits of the State's seams: they reach this far," points out the same voice.

"Economic files came with reductions or counter-proposals", points out a source familiar with the negotiations of the previous ERC leadership. In fact, Montero had already closed the door on personal income tax (IRPF) when Esquerra put it on the table as a condition for negotiating Pedro Sánchez's investiture in 2023. The agreement reached included, among other things, the forgiveness of part of the debt from the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA). At that time, Esquerra also put the reform of the financing model on the table, but the socialists did not want to even consider it. However, unlike the dialogue that the current leadership maintained with Montero, the leadership that Marta Rovira was at the head of referred it to the socialists themselves because they considered it their job to talk to them.

Will the negotiation between the socialists and the republicans change now that Montero is gone? "We will see if [the former minister] was really a weighty reason for absolutely nothing being done regarding more sovereignty for Catalonia, or if it was the easy excuse to blame someone else", said this week the spokesperson for ERC in the Parliament, Ester Capella.