The Congress, with votes against from the PP, Vox, Junts, the PNB, and UPN, has decided not to consider the creation of a parity investment consortium between the State and the Generalitat. Other avenues will need to be sought, therefore. While the consortium can be considered an overlapping and artificial structure, it is still wishful thinking to believe that a structural problem will disappear merely by invoking the State's obligation to execute what is budgeted. Furthermore, the problem is not only the non-compliance but also the underinvestment accumulated over years, which has forced the Generalitat to make a historic, anticipatory effort by, for example, paying tolls.The 2006 Statute already included the third additional provision, which set the criteria for determining the amount of investments, a mechanism that was replicated by the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Aragon, Castile and León, and the Valencian Community. In the Catalan case, it was foreseen that, excluding the interterritorial compensation fund, state investment would be equivalent to Catalonia's percentage of participation in the state GDP for seven years.However, the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the Statute (STC 31/2010) declared that the provision did not bind the General Courts when approving the State budgets, degrading its normative value. To do so, it recalled the doctrine on the second additional provision of the Andalusian Statute (STC 13/2007): although it recognized the constitutional legitimacy of the exceptional financing mechanism, it considered that the Spanish executive was not obliged to include the item in the budget bill if there was no prior bilateral agreement between the State and the autonomous community. A 2017 ruling by the Supreme Court resolved, in application of this criterion, the appeal for review against a ruling of July 27, 2015, by the National High Court which dismissed the claim of the Minister of Economy in the face of the inaction of the Ministry of Finance in transferring to Catalonia the funds provided for in the 2008 budget, according to the third additional provision of the Statute. The Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission had set this fund at 759 million euros on July 19, 2011.

The event that brought together the current Minister of Economy and three former ministers, held on Monday at the College of Economists of Catalonia, and which this newspaper reported on Tuesday, was a ray of hope due to the common ground expressed by politicians from different parties who can achieve broad majorities.

The Government and ERC are aware that they are assured of the band and band of a bullfight. The main folder that he had was the new financial model that, in parallel, was negotiated by the Spanish government. In fact, the Catalan side, in this negotiation, goes on a common front because the principle of order is guaranteed in the new system, always for Catalonia. There was a relationship of trust that, after the No d'Oriol Junqueras to negotiate the budgets, has been touched. Esquerra considers that the PSC "has not done its duty" to put pressure on the PSOE because it transfers the recapture of personal income tax; Instead, the Government believes that the Republicans have changed their position and are demanding more guarantees than those they initially demanded. Unfortunately, both parties have responded to contacts this week to try to resolve the situation. Finally, they have all given more room to negotiate and have extended the term to present reports to the totality of the comptes: the final debate will be on March 20.

Over the years, it has been demonstrated that, in autonomous states, state investments play a significant role both in shaping public policies and in rewarding or punishing individual territories based, first, on whether they are approved, and then on whether they are implemented. These days we have learned According to the General State Intervention (IGAE), during the first half of 2024 only 20% was spent in Catalonia, 456 million euros, which is at the bottom of all the autonomous communities, while in Madrid, for example, the figure exceeds 57%, with 694 million euros.

Far from abating, the storm between the Generalitat and the State over the investment crisis is growing in intensity. On a visit to Catalonia, the Spanish Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, had convened an event to announce several infrastructure improvement projects which ended up deriving in the umpteenth conflict between the Spanish and Catalan governments. In spite of the fact that the Generalitat had previously informed it would attend, it ended up standing up the minister to highlight, once again, its dissatisfaction with State's investment in Catalonia. Relations between the two governments are degrading with every passing day, especially taking into account that this is not the only conflictive area: Catalangate spying scandal is yet to be dealt with and no progress has been made on the conflict over sovereignty.

The competitive disadvantage due to the delays in essential infrastructure that Catalonia has suffered for decades is a serious and unjustifiable handicap. The situation of commuter trains, of many key roads or of strategic accesses –for example, Barcelona's port– is a constant cause of annoyance for the Catalan economy. Endemic delays are accumulating and making the transport of goods and people less efficient and more expensive. Economic dynamism has long since suffered. Precisely for this reason, there is added merit in the fact that things are going quite well and that we are now witnessing a remarkable recovery. In reality, however, the burden falls on companies which, in the absence of the necessary infrastructure, end up exporting thanks to constant and exhausting overexertion and cost overruns. Of course, if infrastructures were built on time, if investments repeatedly promised were delivered on time, we would be better off. Much better. This is what the employers' association Foment has complained about once again – and rightly so. It has drawn up a new technical report in which it calculates underinvestment in Catalonia in the period 2009-2020 to be €35bn.

Catalonia will receive 17.2% of the Spanish government's regional investment. In total, the figure is equivalent to €2.23bn, according to the draft general state budget for 2022 presented this Wednesday in the Spanish Parliament. Once again, this figure is below Catalonia's weight in the Spanish economy (19%). Regional governments will receive €13bn (last year they received €12.1bn) if the budget for 2022 is met, that is, if all the budgeted investment is executed.