What has become of the new regional financing?

BarcelonaThe Spanish government and ERC formalized the agreement for a new regional financing in January, with a presentation by the then first vice-president and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, after months of negotiations with the Republicans. The pact was brought before the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy (CPFF), where it was met with a resounding rejection from the regional councilors of the PP. The Spanish government, however, defended the merits of the new model for weeks and explained that it was drafting the law that would allow it to be submitted for debate by the parliamentary groups in Congress. Three months later and with a new minister at the helm, Arcadi España, the regulation has still not been made public, there have been no bilateral meetings with the regional councilors, and it has not yet begun to be processed. The debate has taken a back seat in the public sphere, especially after the falling out between Esquerra and the socialists over the transfer of IRPF collection.

For the new financing to begin to be processed, the Spanish government must first convene another CPFF where it should present the law that will contain the details of the pact that Montero presented in January. This meeting was scheduled for March, but the calendar ended up going up in smoke amidst negotiations between the socialists and Esquerra over the collection of IRPF. The Republicans were pushing to include this issue in the new financing law through amendments. This meeting is the one that remains pending and to which the Spanish government has not yet set a date. In the background, the variable of the Andalusian elections, which are scheduled for May 17, reappears. Some voices suggest that the meeting would not be convened until after these elections.

Consulted by ARA, the Spanish government maintains that it wants the new model to be approved "before the end of the year", but highlights the "complexity" of the regulation to be drafted. "We are at an impasse," say the same sources. Both the Spanish executive and Esquerra maintain that they are still within the deadline for this funding to see the light of day in the coming months. However, first they will have to convince several parliamentary partners, who currently oppose it. That is to say, once the regulation reaches the Congress of Deputies, it will need the support of Junts, but also of other groups such as Compromís and the BNG, which have shown themselves to be reluctant. The Junts supporters maintain their "no" to the new model because they see it as insufficient. However, according to consulted sources, ERC is in contact with Carles Puigdemont's party to try to convince them to change their position.

"The sooner the new funding model is processed, the better. And we are working on that," said ERC leader Oriol Junqueras last week, before a meeting with Catalan business organizations. There, the Republican leader sent another message to the Junts supporters. "Voting in favor of more powers, more tools, and more resources for Catalonia is very positive," Junqueras said. The message was for Carles Puigdemont's party to vote in favor of the investment consortium that is to be processed at the end of the month in Congress, but he extended it to the new funding model, and to the forgiveness of part of the debt from the autonomous liquidity fund (FLA), which is pending a vote in the lower house as well. In return, say the Republicans, ERC supports the delegation of powers in immigration, which Junts has agreed with the Spanish government.

The territorial route of Romero

What role is the Government playing? Salvador Illa has publicly defended the new model, but in recent weeks he has also taken a back seat in his discourse. Executive sources avoid specifying whether they are also privately pressuring the Spanish executive to speed up its processing. However, in recent months there has only been one person who, in public, has dedicated herself to explaining the benefits of the new financing: the Minister of Economy.

Alícia Romero has held up to eight events throughout Catalonia and has shared information with 161 mayors, as well as other political representatives and social and economic agents. In total, according to sources from the ministry, she has traveled 1,663 kilometers and has visited towns such as Manresa, Girona, Sant Just Desvern, Vilafranca del Penedès, Tremp or Viella.

When the new financing model begins to be processed, in addition to securing the necessary support for it to see the light of day, it will also have to circumvent the frontal opposition of the majority of autonomous communities governed by the PP. In fact, this will be one of the issues that the Popular Party will use in Andalusia to wear down the socialist candidate, María Jesús Montero. However, from the Spanish executive they do not tire of repeating that it is precisely the Andalusian community that benefits most from the new model, with 4,846 million euros more (the second in absolute terms would be Catalonia, with almost 4,700 million).