2023-08-12 19:53:13
In the reviews of the negotiations for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, the eternal question of regional financing has appeared in the public debate as one of the issues that could be on the table during the talks. In Catalonia it is an issue that causes a feeling of already seen very strong, since between the years 2006 and 2009 the Catalan and Spanish governments, then with José Montilla and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as presidents, took part in marathon negotiations that ended with a last-minute agreement that, with the time, has left no one satisfied. The fact is that that 2009 agreement was supposed to be valid for five years, until 2014, and then be renewed. Since then, almost a decade ago, the Spanish governments, both PP and PSOE, have been unable to find a solution. Because?
The answer is very simple: because if Catalonia does not lead it, they are the ones who should establish some criteria and decide which autonomies should receive more and which should not. And neither the PSOE nor the PP want to face this, because they would have to take on a very significant political strain on the communities that feel harmed. And as always, the key is in the details of the system. For example, if the system does not take into account the cost of living, as is happening now, this clearly harms Catalonia, because one euro does not buy the same here as in Badajoz. If the system privileges concepts such as dispersion instead of the real population, it benefits territories like Castile and León, which has many square kilometers but few inhabitants, and mistreats others like the Valencian Country (and also Catalonia). On the other hand, it is much simpler for Catalonia to negotiate first, and for it to be the donkey of the blows and be accused of disloyalty, even if later everyone passes the plate to ask for the same or to introduce new criteria that end up disfiguring the initial agreement, which is what happened in 2009. So the problem is: who wants to put the rattle on the regional financing cat?
Now it seems that a new opportunity is opening up, but it remains to be seen whether the PSOE has the courage to make an ambitious proposal that guarantees Catalonia a status similar to that enjoyed by the Basques and Navarrese. In reality, however, the scenario favors him, because almost all the territorial power is in the hands of the PP, so that Sánchez does not have to suffer from a revolt of baron, since the majority, like Guillermo Fernández Vara or Javier Lambán, are already out of politics. If he put forward a proposal that favored those who are now disadvantaged, basically Catalonia, the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands, then the problem would be the PP.
In any case, the final result will also depend on the negotiating skills of the Catalan pro-independence parties, who will once again have to calibrate their maximum goals (self-determination and amnesty) with the obligation that every government has to try to improve in the short term end the lives of its citizens.
#Editorial #ARA #regional #financing