“It is neither an economic agreement nor a reform to the use of the financing system. And anyone who says otherwise is lying.” This is how the Minister of Finance and First Vice President, María Jesús Montero, has attempted to settle the controversy over the agreement reached between the Socialists and ERC for the investiture of Salvador Illa, which implies that the Generalitat collects 100% of taxes through its own Treasury.
Visiting the town of Rota in Cadiz, Montero responded to questions from the press in the absence of information on the content of this agreement with a message of reassurance. “I am sending a message of absolute calm because it will be good for the whole state and it will be very good for Andalusia. It will not cause any harm to the rest of the territories,” he said. And he accused the PP of not having any proposal to address the pending reform of the financing system.
María Jesús Montero’s words have had an immediate impact on the Catalan independence movement. Junts, in the midst of a political war with ERC after the investiture of Salvador Illa, has rushed to ridicule the pact. And the Republicans have issued a statement raising their tone against the PSOE to warn that, in the event of non-compliance, they will let Pedro Sánchez’s government fall.
“We understand Vice President Montero’s statements in a context of pressure from the other Autonomous Communities and political parties, but she knows perfectly well what was signed: the economic agreement, even if she does not want to call it that,” says the ERC statement.
The note also warns that “the PSOE needs the support of ERC in the Congress of Deputies to push through various measures, such as the General State Budget. If the socialists break their word with the individual financing or other measures included in the agreement, ERC will withdraw its support and the socialists will have to look for other alternatives or call elections.”
Junts has also issued another statement to attack Esquerra and the PSOE and to demand explanations. “All the evidence points to the fact that the new political majority that has been articulated in Catalonia has been built on a conscious deception. A deception based on the fraudulent use of the term “economic agreement” that was imposed in the public narrative with the intention of reinforcing the chances of Salvador Illa being invested,” says the statement.
In the text, Puigdemont’s supporters add that “explanations are an inexcusable ethical duty” and point out that “a government cannot be based on a political manoeuvre based on a deception of this magnitude. It is a very bad start and a very bad omen, which has consequences for all Catalans.”
The document of the investiture agreement between the PSC and ERC barely outlines the main lines of a declaration of intentions that, nevertheless, already represents a political commitment between the socialists and the republicans on a historic demand of the independence movement that both the department of María Jesús Montero and the Government as a whole had explicitly and repeatedly rejected.
In section ‘B’ of the second point of this agreement, the one that refers to “singular” financing for Catalonia, it is openly stated that the new model must be based on “bilateral negotiation with the State.” That is, outside the multilateral negotiation forums with the rest of the territories. The text signed by both parties then includes two statements.
The first, which Esquerra champions, leaves no room for interpretation: “Let the Generalitat manage, collect, liquidate and inspect all taxes borne in Catalonia (…), which correspond to the Tax Agency of Catalonia, except those of a local nature”. The second, on which the Sánchez Government focuses all its attention: “The Catalan contribution to the State’s finances includes the contribution for the cost of the services that the State provides to Catalonia and the contribution to solidarity”.
There are, for the moment, no further details on the development of the Catalan Tax Agency and its powers, nor on the solidarity mechanisms. Although all the sources consulted agree on the complexity of the practical development of this political agreement, no one in the PSOE or in the Government dares to openly raise the possibility of not complying with it, something that in any case could end up being attributed to the lack of a parliamentary majority to support the reform.
Source: www.eldiario.es
