Amidst the debate on regional financing and while several communities governed by the PP denounce that the new model privileges Catalans, the General Intervention Board of the State Administration (IGAE), dependent on the Ministry of Finance, has published data showing that the State invested more than double in Madrid than in Catalonia in 2025. Governments change, but there is a constant that repeats itself: Madrid continues to be the main beneficiary of state investment.
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That Catalonia has normalized, that polarization has shifted to the other side of the Ebro, and that the political climate is no longer what it was a few years ago is undeniable. But there are issues that remain unalterable and are always linked to the degree of execution of state spending. The percentage of investment in Catalonia last year was much lower than the weight that the Catalan economy has in Spain as a whole and received less than half of what it would be entitled to given its economic dimension.
The low execution of investments has consequences for the Catalan economy
While a part can be attributed, as Eduardo Magallón explained yesterday in the Economy section, to the capital effect, not everything can be blamed on this factor. It is not just a budgetary issue, political grievance, or victimhood. The low execution of investments has consequences for the Catalan economy. Delayed infrastructures, saturated railway networks, roads that need improvement, or projects that remain shelved reduce the competitiveness of Catalonia, which contributes nearly a fifth of Spanish GDP. The new financing model to be debated on July 29 at the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council could correct part of the problem.
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The Spanish Government is responsible, but the Catalan Government must also do its part. Salvador Illa asked this Sunday to stop fueling grievances and “move from complaint to work.” Political normalization cannot become synonymous with resignation in the face of a situation that burdens the economy. Protests from the opposition and business associations are not enough. If the Catalan Government admits that Catalonia is being harmed by the poor level of investment executed, it must defend this claim before the State and promote projects stalled in bureaucratic labyrinths or blocked by political, neighborhood, or social opposition. The new political climate cannot be an argument to lower demands just because both governments are of the same color.
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