It hasn't even been a month, on March 27, I asked myself in this analysis: “Can a socialist minister improve anything about financing?” The Valencian Arcadi España had just replaced Vice President Montero, who was leaving to run as a PSOE candidate in the Andalusian electoral campaign. We wondered if a new Minister of Finance could change anything about the distribution of money, because the new minister was perfectly aware of how poorly funded the Valencian Country is. Well, we haven't had to wait long for an answer that we hoped wouldn't have to be rhetorical.Here you have it: “The new minister does not give in and Catalonia will not collect personal income tax”. Because the minister says that any transfer in collection will be made within the framework of the state Treasury. In other words, the Spanish government continues to not embrace Esquerra's agreement with the PSC for the investiture of Salvador Illa. It will be the State agency that will continue to have the powers in management and collection, and the Catalan agency would be a collaborating entity. Well, it's lucky that this was the federalist minister and that Sánchez and Illa have great personal and political harmony. Apart from the fact that the PSOE only goes along with improvements in self-government and believes that with the amnesty enough has been done, senior officials are a state within the State and it doesn't matter whether the PP or the PSOE governs.Meanwhile, Catalonia continues to be underfunded, far below what it pays and what it needs, and there is no room for the regional tier of personal income tax to be lowered: the PSC, Esquerra, Comuns, and the CUP voted against Junts' proposal (voted by the PP, Vox, and Aliança Catalana) to reduce personal income tax and eliminate inheritance tax. Junts knew it would lose but wants to make a point with the idea that Catalans live squeezed by taxes while other autonomies can afford tax cuts.On another note, we answer a question we asked ourselves this morning in the newspaper regarding the incident with the Vox deputy who went up to threaten the acting president of Congress during a plenary session. The question is whether the incident was an anecdote or is significant. The answer is clear: this is significant, the far-right is violent by definition and needs to discredit institutions through contempt and intimidation. They know exactly what they are doing: making it seem like they are so full of reasons that they have no choice but to lose their temper in the face of injustices. And specifically, the behavior of the Vox deputy José María Sánchez, like a madman, is perfectly conscious, because he is a judge on leave from the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community. This is the level.Good morning.

"The position is very clear," the Finance ministers keep repeating, even though the hottest part of IRPF collection is up in the air. First, it was María Jesús Montero who closed the door on the transfers agreed between ERC and PSC, and now her successor has taken on this role. Arcadi España assures that the Spanish government will not deviate from the agreement signed between Moncloa and the Generalitat in the meeting of the Bilateral Commission last July: "For all the autonomous communities and also for Catalonia, we have the will to increase management capacity, always within the framework of the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT)." What does this mean? Basically, that the transfer to Catalonia of the collection of 100% of the IRPF is not a commitment that the state executive makes its own, and that, in any case, it will be the AEAT that will have the powers in management and collection. The Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) should settle for collaborating in "a networked tax management model," as specified in the Bilateral document.

Carlos Cuerpo and Arcadi España have moved up a rung in the Spanish government after the departure of María Jesús Montero. The hitherto number two in the Spanish executive, however, not only hands over the first vice-presidency and the Ministry of Finance, but also the negotiating power with the so-called Catalan file. Specifically, Arcadi España will be the one to tackle the hot potato of materializing the new financing and reopening talks with Esquerra after the transfer of the IRPF derailed. España was one of the strong men of Ximo Puig's Valencian government and those who know him define him as a convinced federalist and Valencianist, as well as being a firm defender of new regional financing. In fact, he endorses the reform that Montero agreed with ERC. And what do PSC and ERC think of the new minister? The Republicans view him favorably for giving a new "opportunity" to negotiations.In Palau they also look hopefully at the new minister, whom a voice from the Catalan socialists describes as "receptive" to the demands of Catalonia, many of them coinciding with those of the Valencian Country."Arcadi is social democracy made politician, dialogue made ruler, common sense made person," wrote former Valencian president Ximo Puig in a message on X after his appointment was made public. In statements to el ARA, he reaffirms: "He is a person with an open disposition, without closed dogmatisms, with the capacity to listen and empathy." España was Puig's chief of staff during his time in Madrid, also when he was general secretary of the PSPV and when he presided over the Generalitat Valenciana, and subsequently served as minister of Territorial Policy and also of Finance. "Federalism is part of his political culture," defends Puig, who recalls that he is one of the people who has most defended new regional financing within the PSOE. In fact, this is one of the issues that Esquerra values.

We arrive at Easter, at the school holidays, the departure operations and the monas, stating that the return will be tough. Everything is rising due to the war in Iran, and since the end of the war is not in sight, the damage to our pockets from this inflation will last for a few weeks, at least. Yesterday evening, Trump pulled ten more days of ultimatum deadline out of the hat for the ayatollahs, while he systematically lies every day (and a lot, because he doesn't stop talking) just to prevent oil from continuing to rise in price and the stock markets from continuing to sink. He just keeps saying the war is won, but the Strait of Hormuz continues to be dominated by Iran, and the regime has not fallen. Meanwhile, in Spanish politics, there has been the announced change that could influence the future of the common financing system that applies to us. Yesterday, Vice President Montero resigned to go to Andalusia and his replacement will be Carlos Cuerpo, until now Minister of Finance. A doctor in economics, polyglot, technician, he does not have a PSOE membership card, a man who does not shout, an economist prepared to sit in Brussels or Washington or wherever; nothing to do with the mercurial Montero. And his place at the Ministry of Finance is taken by Arcadi España, a Valencian from President Ximo Puig's circle, who considers himself a federalist, who has often denounced how poorly funded the Valencian Community is, and who will have to move forward, seemingly with conviction, with the new system agreed with Esquerra. They say that in the PSC they are happy with España's appointment. But however federalist and aware he may be of the poor funding of the Valencian Community, can a socialist minister change anything about the distribution of money? This is the big question and the precedents are not precisely reassuring.

We arrive at Holy Week, school holidays, departure operations and the "monas" affirming that the return will be tough. Everything is rising due to the war in Iran, and since the end of the war is not in sight, the damage to our pockets from this inflation will last for a few weeks, at least. Last night, Trump pulled ten more days out of his hat for the ultimatum to the ayatollahs, while he systematically lies every day (and a lot, because he doesn't stop talking) just to prevent oil from continuing to rise in price and stock markets from continuing to fall. He just keeps saying that the war is won, but the Strait of Hormuz continues to be dominated by Iran, and the regime has not fallen. Meanwhile, in Spanish politics, there has been the announced change that could influence the future of the common financing system that applies to us. Yesterday, Vice President Montero resigned to go to Andalusia and his replacement will be Carlos Cuerpo, until now Minister of Finance. A doctor in economics, multilingual, technical, he does not have a PSOE party card, a man who does not shout, an economist prepared to sit in Brussels or Washington or wherever; nothing to do with the mercurial Montero. And his place at the Ministry of Finance is taken by Arcadi España, a Valencian from President Ximo Puig's circle, who considers himself a federalist, who has often denounced how poorly financed the Valencian Community is, and who will have to move forward, seemingly with conviction, with the new system agreed with Esquerra. They say that in the PSC they are happy with España's appointment. But however federalist and aware he may be of the poor financing of the Valencian Community, can a socialist minister change anything about the distribution of money? This is the big question and the precedents are not precisely reassuring.

Pedro Sánchez on Thursday bid farewell to his closest and most loyal collaborator since he arrived at Moncloa in June 2018. Since then, María Jesús Montero has continuously held the Finance portfolio, one of the most sensitive in any government, and from there she has climbed positions to become, in December 2023, the first vice-president, i.e., number two in the executive. Undoubtedly, Sánchez is giving up one of the pillars of his government to send her to compete in Andalusia against Juanma Moreno Bonilla, a mission that currently seems impossible. It is true, however, that in politics, this month and a half remaining until the elections is an eternity.