The President of the Generalitat Valenciana, the popular Carlos Mazón, will skip the lines drawn by Alberto Núñez Feijóo during the bilateral meeting with the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, this Friday. The Valencian leader will present at the bilateral meeting with Pedro Sánchez in Moncloa an argumentative file of 90 pages and 56 measures that condenses his legislative program and includes demands beyond those agreed between the popular barons barely a month ago.
The leader of the Valencian people now includes the cancellation of part of the historic debt of the Valencian Community among the demands addressed to Pedro Sánchez. More than 22 billion euros, which would also reduce the interest bill paid by the Generalitat. This point was not addressed during the summit led by Feijóo, nor in the general policy debate, and contradicts the amendments that the PP itself presented to the law to reform the Compromís financing system, which remove the mentions of debt reduction. .
According to the document, the Valencian government requires the central government to “create and execute a debt compensation mechanism due to financing.” The text puts it at 22.6 billion euros, almost half of what other reports from expert economists claim, while explaining that part of the Valencian debt is generated by insufficient resources. of the financing system and that without the reduction, it will not be able to return to the financial markets. The regional executive declares itself against bilateralism, but affirms that if something is distributed, it also wants it. Concretely, we read: “The Consell considers that any partial forgiveness of the debt which is not accompanied by a reform of the SFA is a piece which does not resolve the problem. However, if the debt is canceled for all autonomy, the Valencian Community cannot be less and we will demand the same treatment. It also requires that this issue be addressed at a conference of presidents and a Fiscal and Financial Policy Council.
The estimate of the relative underfinancing of the current debt, according to Mazón, “represents 41.2% of the 2022 debt (22,698 million euros).” This figure is far from the report of the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE), which states that “the underfinancing from which the Valencian Community suffers explains 75.5% of the debt it accumulates”, a figure which would translate into 36.550 million euros in 2019. This report argues that the reform of the financing system would not alone solve the problems of the Valencian funds.
The president of the Generalitat Valenciana also ignores what was agreed with the leadership of the PP in Calle Génova in Madrid regarding the leveling fund. This measure is a temporary resource that aims to bring the autonomous communities closer to the state average and compensate for grievances. “While the reform of the autonomous financing system is underway, the Consell demands that the Spanish Government immediately apply a temporary leveling fund that guarantees the Valencian Community additional resources allowing it to converge with the average financing of the autonomous communities of the regime . common. The expert committee of the Cortes has quantified this fund for all underfinanced autonomies. In the case of the Valencian Community, it is estimated at 1.782 million euros on average in the next four years to reach the average. The reality of this equalization fund depends solely on the will of the government.
The text specifies that Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia and the Valencian Community are qualified as underfinanced communities. He refers to the proposal of the financing experts, which establishes different levels of compensation for four years for the autonomous communities to converge.
The Valencian president has always insisted that the PP recognize Valencian singularities, but on paper this recognition does not appear. The document from the meeting of PP leaders with Feijóo says: “Request the creation of a Transition Fund to alleviate the underfinancing suffered by all Autonomous Communities and Autonomous Cities. In addition to the funding currently received, we demand the creation of a real complementary equalization fund, effective and financed by State resources until the renewal of the financing system, the need for which we describe as imperative. The objective of this fund is none other than to guarantee equality in the provision of public services. The national leader of the PP vetoed the reduction between autonomous demands and singular issues, in line with his critical speech towards the Catalonia negotiations. Neither bilaterality, nor singularity, nor subtractions.
