The Government claims from ERC "a few more months" to resolve the IRPF

BarcelonaOne week remains until the trial by fire of the budgets —the debate on the amendments in their entirety— and the Government is trying to convince ERC. This Thursday, the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, assured that the Catalan executive needs more time to comply with the collection of IRPF, the condition that the Republicans have set to sit down to negotiate the accounts. In an interview with Catalunya Ràdio, Dalmau admitted that the Government needs "a few more months" to resolve the management of income tax and called on ERC to agree to approve the budgets while it resolves it. "What do we do in the meantime? Do we condemn Catalonia to not have budgets? I think we have earned trust because we have complied with Rodalies and financing," he assured. In other words, he appealed to the other agreements that the executive has brought to fruition to once again demand trust from the Republicans that the IRPF will also move forward.

However, the Republicans are not satisfied with the Government's commitment and continue to demand a gesture from the Spanish government that shows they are willing to transfer this competence to Catalonia. "Difficult things do not happen overnight. The Government's commitment is there," affirmed Dalmau. In this regard, the minister recalled that the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) is already preparing to collect IRPF, but admitted that at the moment "it is not in the best conditions." ERC, however, maintains that, in addition to strengthening the ATC, the necessary legislative modifications should also be made —such as modifying the Lofca (organic law on the financing of autonomous communities)— to legally support the Catalan treasury to collect IRPF. And this depends on the Spanish government, which for now, refuses to do so.

The Republicans, in this regard, are not budging and assure that without a gesture from Madrid, they will not withdraw their amendment in its entirety. Both sides maintain an open channel of dialogue and there is time until next Friday, March 20, to continue negotiating, when the debate on the accounts in their entirety is scheduled. Meanwhile, the Government continues to pressure the Republicans and Dalmau warned this Thursday that it would be a "disaster" for Catalonia not to have new budgets because, among other things, investments would "get stuck."