The government is facing its first parliamentary debate on Wednesday regarding the unique financing of Catalonia. Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, is appearing for the first time in the Senate to give an account of the agreements between the PSC and ERC that facilitated Salvador Illa’s presidency of the Generalitat. Montero is up against the combination of the PP and Vox, who accuse Sánchez’s government of conceding to the “separatist quota”, along with Junts, who criticize the government for deceiving the Catalans with a non-existent concert agreement that the republicans promoted. The government has already preempted criticism from the PP by reminding them once again that they lack an alternative financing proposal. The PP, Vox, and Junts alliance did not succeed in forcing Montero to explain the Catalan financing agreements in Congress, but they did so in the Senate due to the PP’s absolute majority.
Montero triggered the start of the political course when she attempted to reassure the most critical voices within her party in Rota (Cádiz) – including Jose Borrell, Emiliano García Page, and Adrián Barbón – by stating that the financing system agreed upon for Catalonia is not a concert. She also accused the PP of lying and using Catalonia to attack the government. These remarks angered the independence parties, particularly Junts, who are still coming to terms with Salvador Illa’s victory and the rapid accumulation of institutional power by the Catalan Socialists. The government is trying to hold up a mirror to Carles Puigdemont’s party: while agreeing that it is not a concert, the agreement signed by Illa, which Montero has stated will be honored, is identical to the proposal approved by the Catalan Parliament in 2005 and later revised by the Congress of Deputies and the Constitutional Court.
The PP will try to corner the government over the potential loss of resources that this agreement may entail for other regions, increasing pressure on the Socialist barons ahead of the upcoming PSOE Federal Council meeting. Despite these attacks, the government insists that it will not jeopardize equality in the provision of public services. The government also seeks to highlight the benefits of the agreement: Catalonia has regained “institutional normality” and moved away from the “Spain is robbing us” narrative to discuss a system that incorporates “interterritorial solidarity”. Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, cited the example of the Mayor of Barcelona and President Salvador Illa’s greeting to the King during the America’s Cup as a sign of this new normality that was previously impossible.
The government also criticizes the PP for their barons demanding a reform of the financing system without presenting a concrete proposal. The lack of a unified proposal from the PP, with each leader of an autonomous region making specific demands, makes it challenging to reach a consensus on funding. Feijóo will gather his barons to form a united front on the autonomy’s financing, but a clear roadmap is not expected given the disparity of demands. The Sánchez government has been emphasizing that several regions, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, have their own specificities within the common regime. Peña from the PSOE has suggested a deeper federalization of the state and more self-government as part of the new financing system reform.
Peña advocates for addressing the financing system reform through “bilateralism”, not just with the Catalan government. The Aragon and Andalusia statutes contain provisions similar to Catalonia regarding the tax agency, while Valencia explicitly has a “leveling mechanism”. This means that even regions governed by the PP can expand their financing competencies through the deployment of their statutes. The PP, however, has advised its barons not to engage in a direct confrontation with the government to avoid potential cross-vetoes in a multilateral negotiation context from other autonomous regions, even those governed by the PP.
