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.

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It is common to set economic policy targets as minimum percentages of GDP for the corresponding expenditure. Examples: Trump demands 5% of GDP for defense from Europe, the EU 3% for R&D investment, the OECD 1% for environmental spending, Spanish university laws 1% for universities, and a proposed popular legislative initiative (ILP) 6% for education. There are also targets, less tied to specific policies, that demand maximum levels. For example, the EU Stability and Growth Pact sets a maximum fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP.

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We live in 1984Orwellian language prevails without shame or restraint, and European leaders treat us, as usual, for idiots. Pay and shut up, or there will be war. Don't ask where the money will come from. Pedro Sánchez assures us that the increase in military spending will not bring cuts in healthcare, education, social services, or infrastructure. Magic! Banknotes will grow on trees without having to cultivate them. Meanwhile, the war of those who can never get to work because of commuter trains will continue, the war of those who must care for their loved ones alone, those who die waiting for long-term care benefits, the war of those who cannot live in their city unless they share an apartment with strangers, the war of those who cannot have three children even if they want to. All this violence seems secondary compared to the threat of the external enemy, which always serves to unite the country's own people and encourage uncritical and submissive support. After all, by the time the rearmament bill arrives, the Prime Minister will have already flown off to another destination, and no one will be able to hold him accountable. That's the thing about democracy: those who govern today make decisions that have long-term effects, even before they can wash their hands of it. Looking closely at our entire existence today, our daily malaise has concrete origins in specific offices where specific decisions were made. It's not fate or any supernatural force that conditions our lives. If working conditions today are worse than a few decades ago, it's not because the world suddenly turned upside down and the flow of progress was interrupted; it's because Mr. Rajoy approved a labor reform that led to a considerable erosion of workers' rights. A reform also voted for by CiU (the ruling party of the United Left) that hasn't been repealed by the current government. But we don't suffer because if we have two and a half hours less work per week, everything will be resolved.

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