The Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, announced on Monday that the State will assume 83,252 million euros of “all” the autonomous communities of the general financing regime, “or not have debt to the State [a través del Fondo de Liquidez Autonómica (FLA)]” That is, all except Euskadi and Navarra.
The First Vice President has indicated that this proposal will take to the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council on Wednesday, in which the Treasury and the Communities participate, to which the Ministry will present the methodology to calculate the clipping of the debt, approximately a 19 % on average, “according to the criteria of the adjusted population.” An “unprecedented measure” that starts from the PSOE and ERC pact in 2023 for the investiture of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
“The distribution of the amount responds to objective and transparent criteria,” said María Jesús Montero. “The autonomous communities already have the documentation, and I hope they go to the Fiscal Policy Council with constructive eagerness, supporting a generous measure that will strengthen public services,” he said.
After being approved by the Fiscal Policy Council, where the Government has guaranteed the majority although the communities governed by the PP The deputies, and on the most optimistic stage would be approved at the end of this 2025.
17,104 million debt from Catalonia
A few hours before, the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, has advanced that the Treasury proposal provides that Catalonia be condated 17,104 million euros of debt. “It is a debt that should never have existed,” he said, in a press conference also marked by the decision that Junts should make about whether to withdraw the motion in the Congress of Deputies that urged the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to undergo a matter of trust. Finally, he withdrew it shortly after the announcement of María Jesús Montero.
The ERC leader stressed that the condemnation is exceeding 15,000 million contemplated the pact with the socialists of two years ago. “It is easy to verify that we have gone beyond what is initially planned,” said Oriol Junqueras, since the agreement between Republicans and Socialists provided for the 20% of the debt with the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (Fla), and finally the agreed percentage amounts to 22%.
For its part, the Minister of Economics and Finance of the Generalitat, Alicia Romero, has been satisfied with the condonation of 17,000 million euros of the FLA that must be approved on Wednesday in the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy, convened by the Ministry of the Treasury at the end of January. According to Alicia Romero, the foronation would reduce by around 1.5 billion the interest that the Generalitat must pay.
“There is no conditionality”
María Jesús Montero has detailed that the proposal for debt forgiveness does not imply “no conditionality” because it seeks to compensate for “the damage” suffered by “the autonomous communities in the previous financial crisis, which caused an over -indebtedness.”
The objective is to “reduce debt, normalize the financial situation, facilitate access to markets and strengthen the welfare state,” added the Minister of Finance. The process that must follow the proposal is “complex”, as the vice president has warned, who expects the final law to be approved before the end of the year, and has clarified that debt forgiveness will be “voluntary.”
18,791 million debt from Andalusia
The figures included in the Treasury proposal places Andalusia as the community that would achieve a higher debt forcononation in absolute terms, of 18,791 million. Third, after Catalonia, the Valencian Community appears, with 11,210 million. In fourth position Madrid remains, with 8,644 million, although the region that governs Isabel Díaz Ayuso has no Fla debt, although with banks and other creditors.
The Treasury Methodology aims to “ensure that no autonomous community is below the 19%condonation average, according to the criterion of adjusted population.”
In this way, it rises “the condomation of the communities below the average to ensure that at least 19.3% of condated debt.” To achieve this, two adjustments are made that have to do with “the level of indebtedness during the financial crisis or fiscal effort.”
First, the community is identified with a greater condonation per adjusted inhabitant, which is the Valencian Community, “and the condom rises to that level for the communities with a homogeneous financing per inhabitant adjusted lower than the average between 2010 and 2022”. Secondly, an “additional forgiveness” is introduced for the communities that have exercised their rise in the IRPF between 2010 and 2022, “recognizing the fiscal effort demanded by some communities to their citizens.”
If the condoms with the total debts of each community are compared, it removes it for the Canary Islands is about half, for Andalusia of 47%, 36% to Asturias, 32% to Galicia and 31% to Extremadura. This percentage is reduced to 20% of the Valencian or Catalunya Community, the ones that have the most debt in absolute terms.
Source: www.eldiario.es
