The Government celebrates the agreement between the PSC and ERC but avoids clarifying whether Catalonia will leave the joint funding regime

2024-07-30 12:15:37

At the moment, the Government limits itself to celebrating the preliminary agreement between PSC and ERC regarding the investment of Salvador Illa and avoids evaluating the data communicated by the independence party. According to the document distributed this Tuesday, the agreement includes the delivery of all State tax collection to Catalonia, but the Executive has not been able to confirm whether what was signed implies that the autonomous community will leave the common regime to enter a model of “Concert” like the Basque or Navarrese one.

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“On behalf of the Government, satisfaction with this agreement. This agreement is the victory of politics, dialogue, negotiation. The satisfaction continues, it is a victory for useful politics,” said the spokesperson of the Minister of Education and Government, Pilar Alegría, who called for “respect” for the internal processes of the parties and for the “times” set for “the agreement confirm and validate.” “They know that what we have on the table is a preliminary agreement and they will allow me to greatly appreciate the internal processes and the times that the parties have given themselves to confirm and validate this agreement, ” he said.

According to the document, the socialists promise to convert the Catalan Tax Agency, created in 2007, into a real Catalan Treasury that will be in charge of all the taxes of Catalans as well as deploying its own funding from 2025. The move is the most it will be faster. of personal income tax, starting in 2026. A decision, in terms of what the Republicans expressed yesterday, means that this community would leave the co-financing regime to be put in a model similar to the agreement between the Basque Country and Navarre.

Marta Rovira’s party referred to this agreement as getting “the key to the box” and argued that it means that the Generalitat keeps all the resources collected in the community, less what it transfers to the State, as payment for its their services and as a fund solidarity with the rest of the communities.

In order to complete this agreement, the Government should obtain approval in Congress for the reform of the Law on the Financing of Autonomous Communities (LOFCA), an organic law that requires a clear majority in the Lower House. So far, both Compromís and Count Aragonesista have warned that they will not allow any modification of the system that does not imply an improvement in the financing of their self-governing communities. Both formations make up to 3 deputies, enough to overturn that vote.

However, the Government spokesperson has avoided all the questions related to the issue, and insisted on being satisfied with the agreement reached in the last few hours, which is to be ratified this week by the PSC and ERC both. Alegría has based his answers on one of the slogans of the Executive: “If Catalonia is better today, it is not the result of chance but something as revolutionary as the dialogue launched by this Government.”