Sumar proposes an agreement to the PSOE to create a fund in the budget to compensate for the financing deficit in Andalusia

Sumar, the PSOE’s government partner, has taken a step regarding Andalusian underfunding. The budget negotiation document, made public by the vice-president of the government, Yolanda Díaz, includes the commitment of both parties to commission a report from the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (Airef) to carry out a calculation of the Andalusia’s financing deficit, Valencia and other autonomous communities. On this basis, the government must provide economic compensation through a bilateral agreement. It is therefore a compensation mechanism, similar to the levelling fund requested by the Andalusian government, and which would be provisional until a new regional financing system is agreed.

“We need a new regional financing model that guarantees the necessary resources so that citizens can benefit from quality public services. Until this reform takes place, the General State Budgets will guarantee communities underfunded like the Valencian Country or Andalusia or those with a greater dispersion of population like Aragon the provision of services at the same level as the rest of the State”, indicates the proposal of agreement of Sumar.

In this sense, the coalition of which Vice President Yolanda Díaz is a part establishes as a first step the Airef commission with a report on the financing deficits that the autonomous communities have suffered, which will be calculated based on the difference “between the adjusted real per capita income and the average income of all common-regime communities“There is already a report that estimates this deficit, prepared by Fedea, although Sumar proposes a revision by Airef. Fedea’s has established four underfunded communities (Andalusia, Valencia, Murcia and Castilla-La Mancha) and in the case of Andalusia, it has quantified it at around 1.5 billion euros.

With this report, Sumar states that within a period ofand six months The compensation mechanisms provided for by law are activated and a bilateral agreement is signed with an agreement for the allocation of the estimated amount to the autonomous community.

The proposed agreement, with this equalization fund, represents the first time that Sumar has given priority to Andalusia in the debate on regional financing. In fact, in the agreement for the formation of the government, only the case of Valencian Community (due to the weight of Compromís). On this occasion, Andalusia is placed in first position and a provisional leveling model similar to that demanded by the regional government is proposed.

The document also refers to a possible debt relief for communities that, due to lack of financing, had a larger debt with the State that had been dragging on for years. This is the case of Catalonia (and this is reflected in the pact between the PSOE and ERC) but also of the Valencian Community. Andalusia also maintains a quantitatively high debt (not based on GDP), the elimination of which would ease Andalusia’s spending capacity by releasing an amount of interest estimated at 1.3 billion euros in 2027.