In Moncloa they do not fully believe Carles Puigdemont’s statement, which has announced a break with which the legislature is in practice blocked. Pedro Sánchez is convinced that he can continue with the remainder of his term, even if legislative production fades in the coming months. What they do recognize in the Government is their concern about a series of pending reforms and on which the disbursement of the 27,130 million that are yet to arrive from European funds largely depends, although they trust that the pressure from the Junts mayors, who would be left without receiving part of the money, will change the position of the pro-independence party given that in the Executive they assume that the PP will not lend its shoulder.
The achievement of Next Generation EU European funds is considered one of Pedro Sánchez’s great political victories at the European level. Spain was one of the economies hardest hit by COVID-19, and this European ‘Marshall plan’ translated into 163,000 million euros of financing, practically half of it (79,854 million) articulated through non-refundable transfers.
The Government focused from the first moment on executing those almost 80,000 million euros in transfers, an urgency that is greater now. The other leg, that of credits, is now of less interest, since the improvement in Spain’s credit quality has reduced its attractiveness and implies a greater public debt. So far, the Executive has requested five disbursements for a total volume of 68,710 million, but there are just over 300 milestones and objectives to meet in less than a year.
Spain has a dozen laws pending, which still have to be approved by the Council of Ministers or receive the green light from Congress for the Government to justify to the European Commission that it is meeting the binding milestones of the Recovery Plan. With the approval of the Sustainable Mobility and Customer Service Services this week, the Government gains oxygen and prevents Brussels from retaining an important part of these funds, which it does have to request before August 31, 2026.
These two regulations are part of the five that Puigdemont’s people have ‘saved’ from rejection under the premise that they were negotiated before the former president decided to end the relationship with the Executive. Among the five regulations that Junts will support is the Cinema law, which is part of the sixth payment of European funds, still pending request from the Government.
From the Family Law to the regulation of lobbies
According to the documents agreed between the Spanish Government and the Commission, as part of that sixth disbursement, which amounts to 5,342 million, the Executive promised to approve other laws that now remain up in the air with the announced ‘no’ of Junts. There are five regulations. Among them, the Industry Law and the Universality Law of the National Health System, which appear in the list of 25 laws to which Junts has announced that it will present amendments to all of them. The Council of Ministers has yet to approve the new Framework Statute of the statutory personnel of health services, which has generated protests from health personnel and unions; the Medicines law, and the professional regulation law in the field of sports, which will not be presented before the end of the year.
Junts has announced that it will veto with amendments to all the laws that the Government brings to Parliament from now on. In fact, this Friday the deputy of the pro-independence party Josep Pagès i Massó warned the Executive that it is still “in the denial phase” regarding the rupture. He did so during the appearance of the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, to whom he presented an amendment to the entirety against his star measure, the reform of the Criminal Procedure Law, which in this case is not part of the Recovery Plan.
Puigdemont’s party has also warned of an amendment to the entire Family Law, which is part of the seventh disbursement of pending transfers from Brussels, valued at 8,147 million. Also part of this package are the law to regulate lobbies and the rule for the creation of a Financial Client Defense Authority, which are in Congress and have already passed the first part of the parliamentary process and are in the phase of presenting amendments to the articles. However, Junts does not intend to give them approval either.
Of the eighth disbursement (5,307 million), some amendments to the Competition Protection Law remain to be carried out (which allowed the Economy to intervene in BBVA’s takeover bid for Sabadell) and also a review of certain tax benefits in the tax system, whose changes also involve a legal reform. The ninth and last (8,334 million) includes the control, inspection and sanctioning regime for maritime fishing, against which Junts has also announced an amendment to the entirety.
There are also just over 1 billion pending milestones in the air, such as the tax equalization of diesel and gasoline, which was agreed upon as part of last year’s tax reform but did not go ahead; and the measures to end temporary employment in the Public Service that the European Justice reversed. The self-employed quota system, also negotiated with the Commission, could subtract another 1.4 billion if their contribution based on real income is not met.
Laws have more weight
In the Government they still trust that Junts will lower their ‘no’ and maintain that they will work “vote by vote”, although they admit that the work with the parliamentary group has been difficult. In fact, the spokesperson, Míriam Nogueras, has not failed to warn the socialists that they are not bluffing with their breakup and the rest of the coalition partners believe the threat and see the legislature in stoppage time.
When the time comes, given the deadline to request payments from the European Commission, the Government will have to see when it requests disbursements in Brussels, aware that, as happened with the diesel case, they will be partial. And, in the case of the laws, they are the ones that have the bulk of the weight of the 27,130 million pending to be received, although the specific amount depends on a complex system of coefficients designed by the government of Ursula von der Leyen.
“Following the Commission’s Communication in June of this year, Spain is working with them to adapt and simplify pending commitments so that the compliance evaluation process is more agile and focused in the case of reforms on those identified as most relevant to meeting the objectives of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism,” the Ministry of Finance simply says.
Source: www.eldiario.es
