During the negotiation between the Government and ERC for the new financing model, many hours were spent making simulations and combining variables until it was achieved that Andalusia appeared as the most benefited community. The republicans clung to the card of the 4.8 billion extra income for Catalonia and tried to dilute the unsupportive stereotypes in search of support in Congress; in exchange, María Jesús Montero gained an economic argument in her electoral crusade against Juanma Moreno Bonilla.
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The overall proposal from the Treasury for Andalusia far exceeded the demand of the PP, which did not exceed 4,000, but even so, the 5.7 billion of the overall calculation were dismissed with a slam. Pedro Sánchez’s Government’s attempt to bend the moderate Juanma with more resources clashed with the needs of the PP, immersed in a failed election tour seeking autonomy from Vox. The PSOE operation was not new. The previous negotiation with ERC for the cancellation of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) debt also placed Andalusia at the top of the ranking. The estimated write-off reached 18.791 billion, almost 49% of its debt.
Montero worked the numbers, but none have come true: the FLA write-off awaits in Congress and the meeting of the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council to present the financing system, for the former vice president to crash at the polls. Andalusian disaffection with the PSOE is no longer fixed with money, as the most backward Madrid dignitaries believed years ago with Catalonia’s demands. More than half of Andalusians believe that the situation of their community is good or very good, according to the CIS. The concern is focused on healthcare, but neither the screening crisis nor privatizations have made a dent in the right.
Moreno turns the PSOE’s dependence on the independence movement into his electoral virtue
Moreno has been able to convert Sánchez’s needs with the independence movement into his electoral virtue, and his supposed love for Catalonia – he was born in Barcelona – into a dagger. Even before tattooing his first absolute majority on his arm, the leader of the Andalusian PP dared to point out the problems of his colleagues in Catalonia. “It is evident that we do not resonate with an important part of Catalan society and that requires deep reflection. We have to be a party much more permeable to the aspirations of the Catalans and have roots in the community,” he explained in an interview with La Vanguardia in 2021.
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Could Moreno be president of the Generalitat? “The PP must be in full harmony with the territory,” he insisted in that interview. The aspirations of the Catalans involve better financing of public services, housing policies, and functioning trains. Moreno rejects more resources because they are the result of a negotiation with ERC and he does not know “any independence supporter who negotiates thinking about Andalusia.” The Catalan PP also rejects them. In 1997, the Junta ruled out joining the model that emerged from the Majestic Pact between José María Aznar and Jordi Pujol. In 2002 they returned to the common regime demanding lost income.
Moreno knows that discrediting agreements with ERC is free as long as Junts maintains its refusal to vote for them in Congress. In practice, he does not give up resources and saves himself from putting on the table a proposal that improves the offer and confronts the rest of the PP barons. The underfunding of Catalonia is as recognized as that of Andalusia, but for Moreno, the Generalitat’s issue is a management problem. The Treasury proposal grants Andalusia 23% more resources despite representing 18% of the population. It is among the “winning” communities, according to Fedea, but the Junta’s numbers are always calculated seeking the comparative grievance with Catalonia. The ranking of communities contributing to the common fund has fallen out of the argument so that the narrative does not clash. Moreno, to escape Vox, defines himself by contrast to Catalonia and deepens the gap that the PP previously called to save.
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