The undersigned economists, representing the collective Economists for Well-being, have always been open to anything that affects the well-being of the citizens of Catalonia. Among the main pillars of our actions has always been regional financing as one of the pillars supporting the public policies that have the greatest impact on this well-being. As a collective, we have promoted several pronouncements that have had a broad public echo (2021, How to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Catalonia; 2023, How to manage own resources to improve the well-being and competitiveness of Catalonia, with seven business entities, and 2024, It is necessary to manage our own resources to improve the well-being and competitiveness of Catalonia., with fourteen professional associations).

The Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission held this Monday in Barcelona was supposed to serve to formalize the Spanish government's endorsement of the investiture agreement for Salvador Illa signed a year ago between the ERC (Republican Workers' Party) and the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). That agreement had two main pillars: on the one hand, the commitment that the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) must eventually collect all taxes, starting with personal income tax in 2026, and on the other, a new financing system for all autonomous communities that respects the criterion of ordinality. Well, in the end, neither one nor the other is taken for granted in the agreement signed between the two governments.

Before the meeting between the State and the Generalitat (Catalan Government), the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, convened the Catalan parliamentary groups to explain the content of the pact. This explanation was provided out of courtesy, but it has generated criticism of the agreement from the start of the day. The Vice President of Junts, Toni Castellà, stated in a press conference that the new model "does not resemble the economic agreement" and that the agreement of the Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission is "disappointing." "When the Socialists sit on both sides of the table, Catalonia loses," Castellà stated, adding that for the regional government members, "there is no new financing model." "There is not one euro more for Catalonia [...]. It is far from what is needed," he concluded, stating that it amounts to "extending" the fiscal deficit.

With the bilateral commission between the State and the Generalitat (Catalan regional government) scheduled to meet this Monday on the new financing, the leader of the Catalan Socialist Workers' Party (ERC), Oriol Junqueras, has made clear the red lines for his party. This comes in a context where the PSOE and ERC are deadlocked over the finalization of personal income tax collection, Spanish-style. "The Catalan Treasury must coordinate with the other agencies, but it must be able to fully exercise its powers and functions and cannot be subordinated to the state agency. Furthermore, it must do so within well-defined timeframes," Junqueras made clear, claiming the entire personal income tax: "It is the most important tax, contributing €25 billion annually, and if Catalonia managed the personal income tax in every way, we would go from managing €5 billion to €30 billion, a very significant leap because it is half of the taxes we pay." amount, management and deadlines," he stressed.

The Bilateral Commission between the Generalitat and the State met this Monday to unblock agreements on security, justice and investments after two years of paralysis –although the Statute establishes that it meets twice a year–. There was no news on individual financing, the hot potato of the legislature, but there was news to give a boost to pending commitments and to demonstrate the harmony between both executives, of the same political colour: thus, the Catalan and Spanish governments have sealed an agreement to increase the number of Mossos officers to 25,000 agents in 2020 and 2025 and 2028, with the aim of equaling the average of judges per inhabitant of the state to that of Catalonia. This Monday the Joint Commission on Transfers was also held, which had not met for almost fifteen years, to unblock 14 transfers that had already been agreed by the ERC government.

Three years later, the Generalitat and the Spanish government have met again in the Bilateral Commission, which has reached an agreement to work in five areas that will be evaluated between the end of January and the beginning of February in a new meeting. The Catalan delegation has put management of European funds on the table, but Moncloa has made it clear that it was not the appropriate forum to do so. According to the Minister of Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, it has been agreed to reduce the constitutional conflict in relation to competence clashes between regional and central government; to complete the transfer of the management of scholarships; to create a working group to study the viability of transfers on Sea Rescue, labour legislation and professional training; to reactivate the commission on economic and fiscal matters and the commission on investment in infrastructures. An €200m investment related to the third additional provision of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy has also been agreed: €100m will de transferred immediately and another €100m will be transferred before the end of the year.

Since direct rule was lifted in June 2018, the Generalitat and the Spanish government have made several attempts to recover a more or less fluid bilateral relationship. This included, for example, the meeting of the Bilateral Commission Generalitat-State held in August 2018, the Declaration of Pedralbes that Quim Torra and Pedro Sánchez agreed in December of the same year or the dialogue table that was convened in February 2020. None of these meetings had continuity and were diluted by continuous criticism. Today, the two governments will try again from the headquarters of the Ministry of Territorial Policy in Madrid. There the Bilateral Commission will meet again with the intention that more comes of it than a simple photograph. Yet it starts amid signs of distrust on both sides.