Andalusia does not suffer from a “grievance” due to the singular financing of Catalonia, any more than currently has a “problem” of lack of state resourcesThis is what the general secretary of the Andalusian PSOE believes, Juan Espadas, who appeared before the press after meeting this Monday with the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno (PP), at the San Telmo Palace, as part of a series of contacts he has maintained with political groups after his meeting last Friday in La Moncloa with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), during which he demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Catalan tax quota proposal.
The also president of the Socialist Group in the Andalusian Parliament indicated that In Andalusia “there is no financing problem” but “a management problem” and also the current model of distribution of state funds to the autonomies, in force since 2009 and expired in 2018.
Espadas argued that there was a lack of funding in 2018, when the PSOE governed the Junta de Andalucía and the regional parliament accepted, on the proposal of all parties, except Ciudadanos, to claim some 4 billion euros that were missing each year in funding that the autonomous community receives from the State to finance health, education and social services. “From 2018 to 2024, circumstances have changed,” since the Sánchez government has increased its transfers to Andalusia by 48% due to the increase in collection and deliveries to the State accounts to the autonomies, he stressed.
The PSOE leader assures that what happened in 2018 is that the government of Mariano Rajoy has turned off the “tap” and left public services without sufficient resources, due to a lack of “political will”in the midst of an economic crisis. That is why Espadas asked Juanma Moreno to propose to the Central Executive a new regional financing model that “protects the minimum percentages” to guarantee sufficient resources for health, education and dependency, which were reduced when the PSOE governed the Junta de Andalucía and the PP led the government of the nation.
Espadas does not consider the single financing of Catalonia incompatible to find a formula in which Andalusia will not lose out in the distribution of state funds. “We do not share the fact that Catalonia generates grievances and harms other territories,” he warned.
The leader of the Andalusian socialists wondered whether the tax quota would lead to a reduction in the income that the Council receives through the StateExperts from the Foundation for Applied Economic Studies (Fedea) estimate the cost for the State of Catalonia to manage and pay 100% of the taxes in the territory at between 25 and 30 billion euros, and they all agree that the most disadvantaged people would have to increase taxes, issue more debt or reduce their services to pay this heavy bill.
Espadas denies these figures when asked by journalists and assures that He will not engage in “speculation” until there are “official figures”. At that time, it will be verified, he said, whether or not the Catalan quota is compatible with the guarantee that Andalusia and the other territories of the common regime do not lose funding. He stressed that the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero of Seville, has denied that it is an economic agreement and “prefers to wait and see” how this single financing will translate into figures and amounts.
Espadas defends the PSC and ERC agreement
The PSOE spokesman in the Senate also justified the agreement between the PSC and the ERC according to whichand offers preferential treatment for Catalonia in the management of state taxes despite the fact that the Minister of Finance and Deputy Secretary General of the PSOE, María Jesús Montero, rejected a Catalan economic agreement last July. Espadas defended that the “political circumstances” have changed because the possibility has been opened to the Generalitat of Catalonia to stop “to be governed by an independence party” and will be chaired by the socialist Salvador Illa.
Juan Espadas counterattacked against the hundreds of pending requests and projects that Moreno transferred to Sánchez and handed the Andalusian president a document with 250 “unfulfilled commitments” from the also president of the Andalusian PP. He presented a series of proposals from the Andalusian PSOE regarding the new autonomous financing model that this Community should demand, for which he relied on the agreement reached by the Andalusian Parliament in 2018, when the current Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, was a councilor from the branch to the Council.
The secretary general of the PSOE-A acknowledged that “it is complex” to reach an agreement between the autonomous communities and with the government for a new financing model, which ““This requires generosity and political will,” and in this regard he added that he did not see the PP “in this situation.” but in a “political strategy” led by Feijóo “of rejection of any issue raised by the government of Pedro Sánchez.” That is why he asked Juanma Moreno to “defend Andalusia and the interests of the Andalusians,” and to “separate herself from the strategy of harassment and demolition of Feijóo and the PP at the level of Spain.”
