The first vice-president, María Jesús Montero, clings to the literal nature of the agreement signed between the PSC and the ERC on the unique purpose of Catalonia, and excludes defining it as a fiscal agreement. “It is a solidarity agreement that deepens federalism”, defended the Minister of Finance, who recalled that the proposal can be extended to other territories and that the Government has put on the table a mechanism to return the financial autonomy of the LACC, through the system of cancellation of regional debt with the State through the FLA. Montero’s appearance -however- was featuring his constant fight with the PP“What is the PP’s proposal?” Montero asked, adding “some days it is urgent, but when they governed with the majority, they did not lift a finger.”
“They believe that with this they could get a vote, but the legislature is going to be long, and they are nervous because they have not assumed it,” said Pedro Sánchez’s number two. “If what has been agreed is not an economic agreement, or a reform of regional financing, what is it?” reproached the popular senator Gerardo Camps, in his response, in which he accused the head of the Treasury of “selling equality” “of all Spaniards to the Catalan independentists” to remain in the Executive.
Montero tried to juggle to avoid disturbing the fragile parliamentary balance on which the government relies in Congress, and devoted a good part of his speech to confronting the Popular Party. Nevertheless, Junts did not miss the opportunity to force the vice president to name the agreement. “Economic agreement for Catalonia yes or no?“Is Catalonia going to leave the common regime, yes or no? Who is the fool who, without Junts, thinks he can get out of it?” asked the post-convergent senator, Eduard Pujol Bonell.
The response did not come from the seats of the Executive, but from the bench of the ERC: “Let’s stop debating the content of a clear and public agreement, and let’s get to work,” said Sara Bailac, aligned today with the first vice-president. The Republican senator criticized the PP for its criticism of the agreement and recalled that the electoral program with which the popular candidate Alicia Sánchez ran in the Catalan elections of 2012 included part of the agreement reached between the PSC and the ERC. “You proposed that the single financing model of Catalonia should aim at the collection, management and payment of all taxes,” criticized Bailac.
However, most groups criticized Montero for the lack of precision in her explanations of the content of the agreement. Not only the PP, but also others, such as the PNV, criticized the minister’s lack of precision in her first round. Added to this are the condemnations of the current regional financing system by the nationalist parties. Compromís and the BNG insisted on the need to adapt the system to “their needs”. The Valencians recalled the state of underfunding of their region and demanded the application of a temporary leveling fund to compensate them while waiting for the current system to not be renewed.
