Juan Alfonso Ruiz Molina (1962) faces the negotiations to reform the regional financing model in a no man’s land. The Minister of Finance of Castilla-La Mancha remains firm in his rejection of the agreement signed by his people in exchange for the investiture of Illa. “Neither Montero’s explanations nor the silences of the PSOE Federal Committee convince me,” he says. He is also sent against the PP. “This is not the time to use something of regional interest in a partisan way,” he responds to the offensive initiated by Feijóo and his regional barons.
Were you convinced by the explanations that the First Vice President gave on the tax pact with ERC?
No, I would like to have a signed document, on letterhead. A document in which we can really know what they are talking about. For the moment, we only have one translated document, but it is not official. I am not at all convinced by the explanations given by the Vice-President and Minister of Finance, nor by the silences that exist within the Federal Committee on a transcendental agreement for the entire state.
Do you have an estimate of how this deal might affect the funding you receive?
With the documentation we have, I don’t want to do calculations. I want to see the fine print. I think the most serious thing is not the calculations, but the philosophy, and of course, the philosophy doesn’t look good at all.
A few weeks ago, the PP presented a manifesto signed by its regional presidents, have you read it?
This manifesto includes principles that all the autonomous communities agree on, even if Catalonia may not. It defends that what belongs to each person should be discussed among all. We defend multilateralism. The State has the role of redistributing wealth. This wealth belongs to the country and is subordinated to the general interest, not just to the interest of a few. From the literal nature of the agreement, it is clear that the intention is to divide wealth; that the State, from an economic point of view, has no say in the domain of Catalonia. It is an agreement that takes resources away from all the autonomous communities.
The PP has presented a motion to the regional parliament, the text is the same as the manifesto, will you support the initiative?
This is not the time to make partisan use of a topic of regional interest. It bothers me that it is being used to undermine the good intentions of our president, who puts the interests of the region before those of the PSOE. We are all aware of the criticisms made by García-Page. I have asked the PP for proposals and I am waiting for them to make some. There is a huge contradiction between what the Popular Party defends in the regions and the vote against the deficit path for the coming years. This refusal also represents a significant reduction in the financial capacity of the LACC.
There are eight PSOE deputies from Castilla la Mancha in Congress, have they been asked to vote against the pact?
I leave it to the conscience of each Member of Parliament. President Page has said that he cannot impose on the National Members of Parliament from Castilla-La Mancha what their vote should be. That would be a disaster. Each Member of Parliament who represents the interests of their region and their party must know what decision they must make.
So I understand that if you were a representative in Congress, you would vote against your party…
I am totally against the initiative, I said it actively and passively. I am quite disappointed, honestly.
And if the door opened to greater fiscal autonomy, wouldn’t you want it?
If Montero intends to divide all wealth by region and according to fiscal capacity, the State as such will end up disappearing. Only if Madrid were to claim this same model, with what it represents in the national GDP, the State would disappear and Castilla La Mancha would be totally harmed. Extending the agreement to the rest is technically impossible.
Don’t you think that the bilateral meetings proposed by Sánchez to the regional presidents would have revealed the contradictions between the PP barons and Genoa?
It must be said that we defended the same model with Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez. I would have liked the Popular Party, which complains so much today about the need to face a new financing model, to have done so at the time of Rajoy. However, the silence was absolute. We put the interests of our region first. It is important that President Sánchez meets with each regional president, even more often than he did. But the Conference of Presidents should also be convened more frequently. Dialogue is always good. These bilateral meetings seem to me to be a success.
Has the Minister of Finance informed you of her intention to launch the equalization fund to correct its underfunding?
Yes of course.
Why hasn’t this fund been launched yet?
Montero did not put on the table the need to approve a leveling fund for the four underfunded autonomous communities. Some research services estimate the fund at 3 billion. I think that is a perfectly acceptable figure.
The minister says that it was not launched because there is a difference of opinion between the autonomies of the PP…
The one who should lead the funding should be the central government. The responsibility for distribution lies with the state. All ACSC members know who is overfunded by the current model and who is doing very badly.
The government keeps insisting that since Sánchez has been president, the Autonomous Communities have received 300 billion more than under Rajoy…
The LACC has received what corresponds to us based on the collection of state taxes. Logically, in times of inflation and in a good phase of the economic cycle, more is collected. It is not that there has been a greater effort on the part of the State, but that according to the rules it has corresponded to us more. But we must highlight the government’s behavior during the pandemic. They have invested all their resources and have allowed Spain to now become the leader in growth in the European Union, even with the lowest inflation rates. There is no lack of resources to face all the negative effects of the pandemic. However, the PP left the LACC to the mercy of circumstances during the financial crisis of 2008. This is where many of our debt problems come from.
Do you think there is a tax war between the LACC?
There are two tax policies. The PP, which considers that the highest incomes should benefit by approving deductions, bonuses or eliminating taxes to the detriment of the provision of public services. They tell citizens that the money is better in their pockets and that the less they pay taxes, the more the economy will grow. This harms the lowest incomes, because they do not benefit from these reductions, and they are the ones who use the services most degraded due to the drop in collection.
Do you understand Sánchez when he criticizes the fact that there are LACCs that ask for more, but then base their tax policy on constant tax cuts?
It must be recognized that this is a contradiction. Each CCAA can make use of its financial autonomy. I defend that sufficient funding be distributed to provide services adequately. If some then use these resources to benefit those who have more capacity, that is the problem of this autonomous government. But I think that this should be reflected in the regional elections.
Are you in favour of certain taxes, such as inheritance taxes, being harmonised to avoid dumping tax?
I agree and we have proposed it. There cannot be 17 different taxes. There must be tax harmonization, both in the most important tax elements and in the tax rates, establishing a minimum and leaving the maximum to each autonomous community. We are suffering from Madrid’s tax policy, which, due to its exceptional circumstances, can allow certain whims in tax matters. We have also requested a restructuring of our debt, a significant part of which is a consequence of the underfinancing we have suffered since 2009.
Well, these debt reductions with the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) were facilitated thanks to an agreement between the PSOE and the ERC…
It bothers me that this has to be a consequence of this agreement and not of the demands that we have made, at least in Castilla-La Mancha, based on the abnormal functioning of the model in our region. I had already asked for it too. Another thing is that we have not been listened to and others, due to other circumstances, have been.
