If you took your car to fill up with gas this weekend, you'll have noticed it's more expensive. And it's going to be even more expensive for us, because the war between Israel, the United States, and Iran shows no signs of ending, or even slowing down; quite the opposite. The price of a barrel of oil hasn't been this high in four years. Iran is attacking neighboring countries that have American bases, and in Tehran (population 9 million), the air is poisonous due to the plumes of smoke rising from bombed oil depots. And in the midst of this war, Iran is turning. Just a few hours ago, it announced that the successor to the leader of the Islamic Revolution is his son, Mukhta Khamenei, 56, a man considered a hardliner and, therefore, a continuation of the regime. The message from the ayatollahs' regime to Donald Trump and the world is clear: it will resist, no surrender, no negotiations. And you can already imagine Trump's response: the new leader won't last long. That's why I say the war won't end soon and we're going through a very dangerous time, because Israel doesn't intend to back down and anything can be expected from Trump.

If ERC ultimately endorses the project, Catalonia will have a budget for 2026 for the first time in the last three years. In 2024, 2025, and up to the present day, it has had to extend its budgets due to a lack of support. It's close to 50 billion, a threshold that has been surpassed for the first time in history.This budget represents an increase of €9.1 billion in spending compared to the last budget approved three years ago, which at that time exceeded €40 billion for the first time. This time, the Catalan public accounts will no longer include the European Next Generation funds, which expire this year. Social spending will account for 74.3% of the total budget, the same as in 2023, but with increased resources and the incorporation of housing policies and public transport subsidies. The budget anticipates spending growth that will be slower than revenue growth, which includes record collections of over €6.4 billion in regional and transferred taxes. Unprecedented spending

Non-financial spending by the various departments will increase by 24.8% compared to the 2023 budget, reaching €40.399 billion. For Health, which usually exceeds the forecast – last November it already surpassed €14 billion due to spending from previous years – €13.840 billion is projected, representing a 21.3% increase compared to 2023, below the overall departmental average (24.9%); for Education, €8.356 billion, a 24.5% increase, also below the average; and for Social Rights and Inclusion, €4.248 billion, a 28% increase, above the average.

]]>

Without the support of the ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia), the Catalan government has maintained its initial plan and approved the 2026 budget bill this Friday morning. This will be the first budget presented by Salvador Illa's government and will reach almost €50 billion; specifically, the figure is €49.162 billion, an increase of 22.8% compared to the 2023 budget—that is, €9.126 billion—the last one approved by the Generalitat (Catalan government) under Pere Aragonès's administration. Compared to last year's Generalitat spending, under the extended budget, the increase was 10.3%. The budget includes €4.146 billion in investments, the "highest" figure in recent years, according to the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero. An extraordinary executive council met this morning to approve the accounts, and Romero subsequently handed them over to the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull.

]]>

Political disagreement could lead to another budget extension in 2026. Such a decision always comes at a price: the government's planned spending increase, should the draft budget be approved, would rise by €9.1 billion compared to the 2023 budget, the last one approved to date. This figure was provided by the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, in an interview with the Catalan News Agency (ACN). But how many of these millions would be lost if there is no budget? Sources within the Department of Economy, consulted by the Ara newspaper (ARA), emphasize that at least €1.5 billion is at risk. These are funds earmarked for new projects, not included in previous budgets, and which, therefore, would be excluded from the budget extension according to the law.

]]>

This was the condition that Comuns had set for budget negotiations, and on Tuesday it was met: the Catalan government has begun sanctioning landlords for violating housing law in Catalonia. This was announced at a press conference by the leader of Comuns in the Catalan Parliament, Jéssica Albiach, after a meeting with the executive branch at the Palau de la Generalitat to assess the degree of compliance with the agreements they signed. in springAccording to Albiach, the fines total up to €120,000 and have also been levied against real estate agencies. In a statement, the Catalan Government confirmed that 13 sanctioning proceedings are underway: 7 are being handled by the Catalan Consumer Agency and 6 by the Housing Agency. The Minister of Territory, Silvia Paneque, confirmed that they affect both individuals and legal entities. This first round of sanctions comes just over a year after the sanctioning regime of the housing law was approved. Besides the cases currently being fined, there are another 132 in the preliminary investigation phase: 77 handled by the Housing Agency and 55 by the Consumer Agency. In addition, 26 cases have been closed because they "did not fall under the provisions of the law." The 13 open cases are at various stages. Two serious fines totaling €27,000 have already been imposed: one for raising rent without justification, and the other for a property manager signing documents as a registered professional without actually being one. Another case is underway for a serious infraction: failing to include information on the reference index and energy efficiency label. The fine could reach €25,000, but the final amount is yet to be determined. Four other cases have been opened for failing to disclose the reference price in advertisements for homes located in high-demand areas. Of these four, one resulted in a €1,750 fine, which has already been paid, while the remaining three could carry fines of up to €10,000. All of these cases involve the Consumer Protection Agency. Regarding the Housing Department, there are two cases with fines of €30,000, two with fines of €3,000, and two others "pending determination," according to the Government. One of the tools that should help Territori to control compliance with the law is the register of large holderswhich is also agreed upon with Comuns, but has been delayed again due to new modifications introduced by the Government during the public consultation phase. It should have been approved in November and still has no date.

]]>

Just hours after the First Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, explained the proposal for the new regional financing, Junts reaffirmed what it had been saying in recent months: who opposes the model agreed with Esquerra because it is not an economic agreement for CataloniaWithout the support of at least the Junts party, the agreement reached by the Socialists and Republicans will be worthless when it reaches Congress, where it will also face the certain opposition of the PP and Vox. Therefore, a two-pronged operation has been launched from Ferraz Street in Madrid and Calàbria Street in Barcelona to change the minds of the Junts leaders: on the one hand, they are being pressured ("When the time comes, they will have to decide whether the resources go into the pockets of Catalans or whether they keep the Ministry of Finance," immediately); and, on the other hand, attempts are being made to persuade them. The president of ERC himself explained this Monday that he has already contacted the Junts leader, Carles Puigdemont, to travel to Waterloo as soon as possible. From Moncloa Palace, the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has also pledged to "go to the extreme" to change Junts' minds. "I appeal to them to think about the citizens," he added. It's a carbon copy of the message. to which the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, transferred, And that's what the Republicans and the Comuns repeated after meeting with the head of the Catalan government on Friday at the Palau de la Generalitat.

]]>

Visibly pleased with the regional financing proposal presented by Spanish Vice President María Jesús Montero, but aware that it's impossible to obtain 100% of what they want, the Catalan Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero (Caldes d'Estrac, 1976), received ARA at the Palau de la Generalitat, convinced that Catalonia will succeed. She also stated that she doesn't see it as impossible for the proposal to go ahead.

]]>

Salvador Illa's government often boasts about the positive economic data in Catalonia: It is the second community in the State with the highest GDP, only behind Madrid and is the economy of the eurozone which grew the most in 2024, with a rate of 3.4%. However, there is one figure that clouds the balance sheet of the Catalan executive: it is the growth in the Generalitat's spending last year. For the first time since 2019, the Government has violated the so-called spending rule, one of the budgetary discipline measures aimed at ensuring the sustainability of public finances. The limit set by the Treasury for all the autonomous regions was 2.6%, while the Generalitat closed the year with a spending growth of 6.9%. Now, the Government must investigate these issues to contain public spending and once again comply with the law. And it will do so, above all, with "containment" measures in the health sector, although sources from the Department of Economy tell ARA that "under no circumstances" will there be cuts.

]]>

Objective achieved. Major banks are once again financing the Catalan government thirteen years later. CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell, BBVA, and Santander are four of the six financial institutions that have enabled the government to successfully complete the partial refinancing process of the regional liquidity fund (FLA) for 2023 at a lower interest rate than the current one, amounting to €3.5 billion. As a result of this operation, the Catalan government will save €127.6 million in interest over eleven years, until 2035, according to calculations by the Ministry of Economy. This is the first operation with the private financial sector to finance long-term debt since 2012, the year in which the markets for the regional governments were closed and the instruments to provide them with liquidity and resources to pay suppliers were created. BBVA has signed an agreement to refinance €1 billion, and Santander, around €700 million. CaixaBank and Sabadell have not disclosed the amounts provided.

]]>

The Moncloa does not accept the principle of ordinality for Catalonia's new financing model. It was already left in the air because there was no reference to the agreement of the Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission –which was included as a request from Catalonia in the preamble to the document signed by both executives–, has been finally confirmed this Tuesday: Spanish government sources assure that this is an approach that only the Generalitat is making and that for now it is not assumed as a principle that will govern the future financing model. This position not only implies an amendment to the content of Salvador Illa's investiture pact between the PSC and Equerra (Spanish Left) –which did establish this pillar for the new system–, but also a clash between the two socialist governments. Ordinality is one of the issues that the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has repeatedly defended.

]]>

Regional financing is the biggest outstanding issue. The 2009 model, which should have been reformed or updated more than a decade ago in 2014, is the major challenge that ERC and the PSOE are working on behind the scenes. They are trying to ignore the political noise surrounding corruption cases. and lay the groundwork for the new financing in the bilateral commission between the State and the Generalitat (Catalan Government) that will meet on Monday in Barcelona, headed by the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres; and on behalf of the Government, by the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau; and the Minister of Economy, Alicia Romero. At stake are approximately €18 billion for all the autonomous regions of the common regime, a figure sufficient to at least update the figure incorporated into the 2009 model (approximately €12.5 billion), according to calculations by sources with access to the negotiations.

]]>

The collaboration between the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) and the state tax agency (AEAT) to prepare the Catalan Treasury to assume the management, collection, and settlement of all taxes has not been easy. The Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, has acknowledged that so far it has been "costly" to seal the necessary agreements for the shared management of the vehicle registration tax, which was agreed upon with the state in February as a measure to train in the cooperation between both administrations, since the Catalan Treasury is expected to manage it next year, and Isla with ERC.

]]>

Andreu Mas-Colell (Barcelona, ​​​​1944) is one of the most renowned economists. At the presentation ceremony for the Alexandre Pedrós Prize—the distinguished tax expert of the Barcelona Economic Society of Friends of the Country—held this Tuesday at the Palau Macaya in Barcelona, ​​​​Professor Guillem López Casasnovas, president of the jury, was responsible for remembering him. With him, the award debuts its recognition of a professional career.

]]>

The Catalan government will refinance €3.5 billion of its debt with private banks. This will be the first time in 13 years that the Catalan government has turned to the private sector for financing, taking advantage of the drop in interest rates. This will allow for financial cost savings that the government estimates at around €24 million. In 2023, the average cost of resources obtained through the regional liquidity fund (FLA)) was 3.497%, and last year it had already dropped to 3.159%. The Department of Economy states that currently, the Spanish Treasury interest rate differential with respect to the FLA ranges between 60 and 75 basis points.

]]>

In the context of the negotiations for the collection of all taxes resulting from the agreement for the new financing of the PSC and ERC, the Catalan Treasury nearly broke a record for revenue from its own and transferred taxes last year. The Catalan Tax Agency (ATC), the body on which these changes hinge, collected a total of €5.286 billion from these items in 2024, the second-highest figure ever achieved, only slightly surpassed by 2006 (€5.362 billion), when the Generalitat had virtually no taxes of its own. Last year's figure represented a 12% increase over the previous year, thanks to the boost in taxes linked to real estate activity, according to data from the Catalan government.

]]>

The Catalan government is seeking private financing alternatives and reducing its dependence on the regional liquidity fund (FLA) offered by the state, Economy Minister Alícia Romero explained this Friday. The Catalan government hopes to be able to issue debt to the markets soon, as well as refinance part of its debt directly with banks in order to lower the interest it currently pays.

]]>

First step by the Government to resize the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) and prepare it to take on all income tax collection for next year, one of the commitments to deploy the new singular financing. The Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, announced this Friday that the executive council next Tuesday will approve the hiring of 102 people on a temporary basis to carry out this year's income tax campaign and will also create 90 structural positions to join the ATC staff on a permanent basis. "The challenge of managing income tax for 2026 is enormous and the Catalan Tax Agency must grow and gain muscle," Romero argued in a press conference from Girona.

]]>