The President of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Morenowarned the president of the government last Friday in Moncloa, Pedro Sanchezwho would use all instruments to prevent the fiscal independence of Catalonia because that would go against the interests of the Andalusians.
Three days later, the presidential advisor, Antonio SanzOne of them revealed: social pressure. That’s to say, the demonstration in the streetwhich is the message conveyed by other popular barons like the Galician, Alphonse Rueda.
This Monday, Moreno held a meeting with all the opposition spokesmen to try to put together “a common front“who defends equality of Andalusia. But also for calls on Andalusians to rebel now demonstrate as he already did on that famous December 4, 1977 to claim their autonomy, as Antonio Sanz pointed out in a later appearance.
To give substance to this common front, the President of the Council proposed to the spokespersons: a document with ten priorities for Andalusiain order to reach a consensus, in health, education, industry or infrastructure.
To achieve this, from Monday 30 September, meetings will begin to be held with the groups to try to reach agreements on this decalogue of priorities. The objective is gather positions and receive proposals on each of the opposition’s points.
Concretely, it starts with the defense of equality in the face of “threats, discrimination, grievances and attacks” against Andalusia with issues such as the “Catalan quota”.
The new comprehensive health law would follow; the housing law; the strategic plan for self-employment; promotion of professional training; the digital Andalusian law; the Andalusian land use plan; the defense of the community to correct the deficit in railway infrastructure, water resources and the electricity network; the law of science and the alliance for industry.
For the Andalusian president, it is time to make a “Common Front of Andalusia to defend equality“, which is at “risk” with the single financing of Catalonia agreed between the PSC and the ERC or “Catalan quota”.
However, in their previous interventions, none of the spokespeople mentioned this decalogue or Juanma Moreno’s position on reaching agreements on these issues.
The opposition’s position
The person who comes closest to his position is the spokesman for Vox, Manuel Gavira. During his appearance, he assured that he shares with Juanma Moreno that “Separatist quota attacks against Spain“and, more specifically, against Andalusia and which represents a “rupture” of equality, solidarity and unity of the country.
He asked him, however, not to fall into the “traps of Sanchism” and that he does not use it to “cover up the mismanagement of public services” in this community. According to him, “these can be greatly improved.”
The left-wing parties do not share the same vision. The socialist leader Juan Espadas was faithful to his speech on Andalusia”has no financing problembut of resource management.”
As detailed, the autonomous community received from the State 27,910 million euros“a record figure in the general budgets of the State”. However, according to him, “public services are not functioning as they should”, which he directly blames on the Council.
Espadas did his homework, since he raised Moreno a document with 250 unfulfilled commitments by the Andalusian government, in addition to expressing its regional financing model compared to the current one that expired in 2018.
The general secretary of the Andalusian PSOE justified that in the years that Susana Diaz governed in Andalusia Yes, there was a lack of funding and the regional parliament agreed, on the proposal of all parties, except Ciudadanos, to claim some 4 billion euros that were missing each year in regional funding.
This is why Espadas asked Moreno to propose to the Central Executive a new regional financing model that “protects minimum percentages” to guarantee sufficient resources for basic services, the amount of which decreased when the PSOE governed Andalusia and the PP, Spain.
This is why it has been emphasized that does not consider the single financing of Catalonia incompatible to find a formula in which the Andalusian community does not lose out in the distribution of state funds.
However, experts from the Foundation for Applied Economic Studies (Fedea) estimate the cost that this Catalan quota would have for the State at between 25 and 30 billion euros, which would lead to an increase in taxes in the rest of the territories.
Competition between communities
Juanma Moreno also did not find support in the left-wing confluence of Por Andalucía. “I am very concerned about the frivolous way in which President Moreno Bonilla is addressing the complex problems that await us,” the spokesman stressed. Inma Nieto.
After the meeting, Nieto urged him to convene the bilateral commission with the State that includes the Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia and to defend the official proposal that it has on regional financing, referring to the one that the Andalusian Parliament approved in 2018 and that Moreno himself supported.
“He is the only regional president who has a clear position to defend.“At the same time, he also demanded that he accept the debt relief proposed by the central government and demand a temporary levelling fund that compensates Andalusia for the underfinancing it suffers.
That is why he asked Moreno to cancel the tax cuts approved since 2019 by the PP executive, as a preliminary step to demand more funds from the State.
Finally, the president of the Adelante Andalucía group, Maribel Moradenied his support for the demonstration that the Council wants to call against the Catalan quota. In addition, he asked him to defend the fact that all the wealth generated in Andalusia is taxed in Andalusia. “Otherwise, we will be dead,” he concluded.
