Juntos will negotiate the state budget in exchange for 50 billion euros in infrastructure

BarcelonaAfter the pact for the Delegation of immigration powers between the PSOE and Junts, the ground had been prepared for future negotiations between the junteros and the Spanish government. But this Monday, Carles Puigdemont's party has warned what the counterparty is that it is asking for in order to sit down and negotiate the general state budget (which does not mean approving it): the return of the historical debt in infrastructure. "Juntos will not negotiate the general state budget until it pays all the outstanding debt in infrastructure: 50,000 million euros," announced the spokesperson for the party, Josep Rius, in a press conference after the permanent one on Monday. "That is why we have not approved the budget and we will not negotiate it until they pay what they owe us," he added, criticizing the numerous "non-compliances." In fact, Junts sources in private see it as very difficult that they can agree on this year's budget.

"We must say 'up to here'," said Rius, who stressed that the party has set this condition sine qua non to begin to address the negotiation of the next state accounts. The figure of 50,000 million that Junts is demanding is based on the non-compliance of recent years in Catalonia, that is, the difference between what was budgeted for infrastructure and what is ultimately executed. An example they give is that in 2023, 45% of what was planned in Catalonia was executed, while in Madrid the percentage was 165%. In any case, it was the study commission on the historical debt of Parliament that concluded in November 2023 that the State owed Catalonia 50.9 billion due to the lack of execution of the planned investments in infrastructure with respect to what was budgeted in recent decades.

And that is the figure that Junts is clinging to in order to start negotiating, although it is aware that the Catalan chamber itself raised the total historical debt to 456,000 million euros, because they added the fiscal deficit to that figure. In fact, the 50,900 million that Junts is claiming for the Generalitat's coffers were calculated by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce in June 2023 and set a horizon of additional investment until 2040 to reverse the deficit, which represented an additional 3,000 million each year.

Open formula

With the proposal launched by Junts, it will now be necessary to see if the PSOE agrees to negotiate and the formula that could be used. After the partial cancellation of the FLA assigned to Catalonia, one of the doubts that looms is the mechanism that could serve so that these 50.9 billion could have an impact on Catalan infrastructure. The talks on the budget are the great challenge for the state executive after they had to extend it in 2024. At this point, according to Rius, there is no negotiation on the issue that will mark the year of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez. Precisely, after reaching the agreement to delegate immigration powers, Rius has stressed that "the relationship with the Spanish government continues as always", starting from a "situation of mistrust" and appealing to negotiations "piece by piece as the agreements are fulfilled".

On this matter, he wanted to criticize both the position of Podemos and that of the PP and Vox: "Several considerations have been received from the extreme left and from the extreme right; this means that the position we have maintained is focused and goes in the direction of solutions," he stressed. Another scenario in which he has opened the way to negotiation with the Spanish executive is in the defense policy to "react to the challenge of President Trump" and "strengthen the defense and security policy." Waiting for the proposal that Sanchez will do it this Thursday, stressed that it is an issue that "must be done well", but that "it cannot be at the expense of public services."