For now, the only unusual thing about Catalonia's new and long-awaited regional funding is that it's probably languishing in limbo, and that's because of the Andalusian mammograms. It might be surprising, but it's true. Let me explain.

The far right presents an argument based on facts or general beliefs: housing is too expensive for most families, public authorities treat immigrants better than citizens, there is insecurity on the streets due to the high crime rate among immigrants, the EU is overly regulatory and costs us a lot of money. Simple, direct messages, with little nuance. Traditional parties, conservatives and social democrats, present arguments that are more ideological than factual. They don't contrast facts, but rather ideas. For many people, these ideas are far removed from what directly matters to them. Facts are immediate; ideas are less so because they are nuanced.

In the interview that was published the ARA newspaper this Sunday The president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, floated an idea that has been taboo until now, namely that the Community of Madrid cannot be treated like the rest because it has privileges tied to its status as the capital of the state. "Madrid has a capital status issue that must be taken into consideration when distributing resources," he stated. This reflection stems from something unquestionable, which is that the criterion agreed upon between the ERC (Regionalist Party) and the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) for distributing these resources in the new financing system, that of ordinality, benefits the Community of Madrid first and foremost, even more than Catalonia. So much so that, in the simulations that have been run, Madrid and Catalonia would share half of the additional resources that should be put into the system, between 8 billion and 10 billion euros according to calculations.

In politics, being right doesn't guarantee winning a battle. The independence movement bitterly realized this at the time. It was a case of naiveté. In the case of the new financing, it confirms, as has been confirmed time and again, that being right, defending a just cause, has little impact on the final outcome, since opponents aren't willing to take it into consideration. Quite the opposite: it often compels them to fight the claim even more vigorously.

The agreement on the singular financing model agreed upon by the PSC and ERC parties on the occasion of President Illa's investiture placed great importance on achieving regional financing that respected the principle of ordinality for the Generalitat of Catalonia; that is, that no autonomous community would receive fewer public resources than the communities that had contributed the least. Implicitly, it also means forgoing receiving more public resources than the communities that had contributed the most. The principle is simple and can be calculated very well. It involves ensuring that contributions of public resources to the central state treasury do not change order when they are redistributed. The concept public resources It is essential. During the 2009 negotiation of the financing model, and when Minister Solbes was still responsible for the economy of President Rodríguez Zapatero's government, Solbes reassured him about the application of the principle of ordinality, which the Generalitat had so strongly demanded, assuring him that per capita GDP would not change after the implementation of the financing model. This was a mixture of apples and pears, given that private resources do not come into play when discussing ordinality in the distribution of public resources. The contributions of public resources must be compared with their redistribution. Redistribution is progressive when the differences between the largest and smallest contributors narrow, but this is not what happens in Spain: the autonomous communities with the largest contributions remain far behind in public funding compared to many regions that have contributed the least.

Yesterday, something unprecedented occurred: the Catalan government publicly stated that it disagreed with the Spanish government. This is no small feat, given that we're talking about two socialist governments, with a president of the Generalitat who had previously been a Spanish minister and whose PSOE spokesperson is from the PSC. In other words, when two such similar groups disagree publicly, it's news.

This Monday saw the launch of the unique financing project championed by the ERC (Republican Workers' Party) and accepted by the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) within the framework of Salvador Illa's investiture as president of the Generalitat (Catalan Government). The text agreed upon and signed by both parties is full of good intentions, always qualified by the call for the extensibility of the agreement to other regional tax administrations. The objective is for the tax administration of the Generalitat to progressively assume responsibility for managing personal income tax and for personal income tax returns for the 2025 fiscal year to be submitted to the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC), with the possibility of using the digital identification key established by the Generalitat (idCAT), and for the AEAT to be able to make progress, particularly with the verification of the correct application of regional regulations and, in particular, of the deductions approved by Parliament."

Catalonia knows very well the cost of euphemisms and the value of the principle of reality. Therefore, when negotiations on the financing system come up, it would be wise to choose precise and unsweetened words. The PSC and PSOE governments will agree on the general characteristics of the financing model in the bilateral negotiations, and in the negotiations with ERC, they should lay the groundwork for tax collection, starting with personal income tax. Negotiation sources speak of "laying the groundwork for a unique model for Catalonia that can be generalized to the rest of the regions." The translation is: a financing model has been agreed for Catalonia—as always, because it has taken the initiative in all the reforms—that will be neither a concerted agreement nor unique, because it will be applicable to all the autonomous communities.

In an opinion piece published this Thursday, the Círculo de Economía (Economic Circle) advocated a reform of the regional financing system similar to that existing in "federal" countries such as the United States and Canada, and has moved away from implementing in Catalonia a model like the regional agreements already in place in Navarre and the Basque Country.