The latest attempts by the First Vice President of the Spanish Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to reassure communities critical of the Catalan quota have had no effect in Castilla-La Mancha. Juan Alfonso Ruiz Molina, Minister of Finance of the Executive chaired by the socialist Emiliano García-Page, insisted this Tuesday that the agreement signed between the PSC and the ERC is “a flagrant attack on the principle of equality recognized in the Constitution”This is why he considered that “it won’t happen”.
Ruiz Molina, questioned by journalists at a press conference in which he reported on the approval of the spending ceiling with which the 2025 regional budgets will be prepared in Castilla-La Mancha, assured that said agreement “It’s a concert, even if the minister calls us liars”.
“We’re talking about a concert, something that This is only provided for in the Constitution of the Basque Country and Navarre.. There is no doubt about it from an academic point of view and from a common sense point of view. It is white and bottled,” added the mayor of Castilla-La Mancha a few days after Montero defended that the pact that allowed Salvador Illa to be invested as Catalan president “is neither an economic agreement nor a reform of the financing model”, but rather a “formula to deepen the governmental autonomy to which Catalonia aspires” and a “single financing” that, in addition, It will be “good for the Spanish state as a whole”.
Arguments not at all shared by the government of the socialist Page, whose Treasury advisor has shown his “absolute rejection” of the implementation of this system and increased the pressure on Montero herself, whom she accuses of having “approved” a bilateral agreement with Catalonia which, she insisted, represents “a concert and a privilege for this autonomous community.”
“With the agreement concluded, Catalonia to decide on the amount of its contribution“What conditions the autonomous communities must meet and for how long they will have these resources,” warned Ruiz Molina, who ironically said in the same vein: “The Fiscal and Financial Policy Councils will no longer be convened by the Minister of Finance; “They should be summoned by the new Minister of the Treasury of Catalonia, because it will be Catalonia that decides what money the other autonomous communities will have.”
Joint negotiation
The head of the Treasury of Castilla-La Mancha has asked the executive of Pedro Sánchez to lead a proposal for reform of regional financing, allowing the joint participation of all communities. “It has always been done this way, in the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy, and then it was ratified in Congress and the Senate, so I hope that the government of the nation will act as quickly as it approved the agreement reached in Catalonia.” he defended himself.
Ruiz Molina further recalled that This same thing “was affirmed by the minister when she was Minister of the Treasury in Andalusia”for what she said about her party partner: “She is perfectly aware of the need for the government of the nation to lead her, because it could not be otherwise.”
The advisor also indicated that he is waiting, as the minister herself announced, for the bilateral meeting that will be convened between the governments of Spain and Castile-La Mancha to discuss financing, an appointment in which will ask for “transparency” on the demands of the rest of the communities to demand that “the best of the options negotiated” during these bilateral meetings also be implemented in the Castilla-La Mancha region.
compensation fund
Likewise, “taking into account the agreement signed for Catalonia, with which the State could lose 30 billion, according to Fedea’s calculations”, Ruiz Molina asked again that the Government immediately activate a temporary compensation fund for underfunded communities (Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia, Valencia and Murcia) while the new model is being negotiated, which has been denied on several occasions.
“With 3 billion we could solve the underfunding of these communities,” recalled Ruiz Molina, who also cited studies by Fedea to estimate 315 million is the amount that Castilla-La Mancha should receive.
