The Fiscal and Financial Policy Council approved this Friday the proposal to reform the autonomous financing model, which would provide 21 billion more in resources to fund public services in the common regime communities. In the final vote, the Ministry of Finance received the support of the councillors from Catalonia and the Canary Islands. It should be remembered that the framework of the reform stems from the investiture pact between the PSC and ERC to appoint Salvador Illa as president of the Generalitat. All the PP communities voted against it, precisely using that argument, that it is a measure previously agreed with an independentist party and, therefore, lacks consensus. Castilla-La Mancha and Asturias, governed by the PSOE, also voted against it. 87% of the autonomous communities oppose the Government’s proposal.
Read more Spain proposes to Brussels a European fund for climate change adaptation
The Ministry of Finance has half of the votes in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, so once quorum was confirmed, the approval of its approach was never in danger. Catalonia participated in the design of the model, which increases resources for the Generalitat by 4.686 billion each year. The Canary Islands, governed by CC and co-governed by the PP, already announced in July that they would support the approach, as has been confirmed.
All the PP Finance councillors present voted against the reform proposal put forward by the Ministry of Finance. Namely: Andalusia, Valencian Community, Galicia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Extremadura, Castilla y León, Cantabria, Murcia, and La Rioja. Also Ceuta and Melilla. The arguments for opposing have varied depending on the territorial representative. The Andalusian councillor, Carolina España, has been one of the harshest, as has been the representative of the Valencian Community, José Antonio Rovira. Very similar terms were used by the socialist councillor of Castilla-La Mancha, Juan Alfonso Ruiz. The Community of Madrid left its seat empty and therefore did not vote. Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s government called yesterday to boycott the meeting, but no PP government supported the proposal.
The model that was endorsed today in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council contemplates a total distribution of 224.507 billion among the common regime autonomous communities. In the last settled year, which corresponds to 2023, they received 152.484 billion from the financing system. However, the proposed reform is voluntary, so it will only apply to those territories that agree to it with the Ministry of Finance.
Read more The U.S. activates its mediation for Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv await Trump’s envoys
Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance has reminded that this is a proposal that must be debated and put to a vote in the General Courts. Therefore, the Government will have to go through a much more complex process in Congress, where it needs the votes of all investiture partners, from Junts to Podemos. ERC has already opened up to incorporating proposals put forward by Carles Puigdemont’s party in the parliamentary process.
The autonomous financing system currently in force was approved in 2009 with no votes against. Spain was very different then. The second vice president and Minister of Economy and Finance, Elena Salgado, was responsible for negotiating the agreement. The Catalonia councillor was Antoni Castells. The Government obtained the support in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council of the communities governed by the PSOE, as well as Cantabria, then co-governed by PRC and PSOE, and the Canary Islands, by CC and PP. The communities then in the hands of the PP abstained by order of the party president and opposition leader, Mariano Rajoy.
Read more Begoña Gómez demands her full acquittal for the Complutense chair
