Punctual at the meeting, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Pagearrived at 4 p.m. at the Moncloa Palace, on whose stairs – the same ones he climbed no less than six years ago – the president of the government was waiting for him, very smiling in front of the baron of the PSOE, the most critical of his political action, particularly in terms of regional financing and amnesty law.
Page held a thick backrest that in a few minutes I would see face to face again with Pedro Sanchez already sitting at the desk and which contains more than 190 ongoing trials of State with Castile-La Mancha. Among them, regional financing and the opposition of the most critical PSOE baron of the President of the Government to the Basque quota signed with ERC and which, in his opinion, “break the common box” disrupt the equality that all Spaniards should enjoy in terms of public services, regardless of where they live and the population of their autonomous community.
Around 6 p.m. the meeting ended – which It lasted two hours– and Page appeared before the media in a 23-minute intervention. He said the approach funding for Sánchez “it has always been mine; “I say the same thing in private as I do in public and it has been very cordial and respectful.” The basis of his argument in this regard is that any future financing system requires that a basic concept cannot be reconsidered: “The wealth of Spain belongs to everyone, it is national, it has a lot of bread and Castile-La Mancha opposes that wealth is not distributed among all and is calculated by territory. Otherwise, they contravene the principles of equality and equity.
“Equality has never found a better guarantee than unity. The difficulty is to reach agreements with those who want to break unity and have more than others. There is no need to have 17 budget policiesterritories do not pay taxes but people and businesses, and those who have the most pay more and those who have the least pay the least. Solidarity is national and we must decide on the fair redistribution of wealth between us all. 90% of independent expenditure is devoted to health, education, social services and dependency. No territory can keep all the wealth and the negotiated model must be multilateral, without special regimes,” added Page on this subject.
In this state of affairs – he underlined – the Basque and Navarrese quotas “must have felt threatened by the demands for independence” and he added that the basic negotiating document will not be the one signed with ERC, “it must be a different proposition; “and I proposed to make the proposal a multilateral dialogue between all autonomous communities.”
Page also suggested that Sánchez send a document to the government for a Harmonization law – “which will not please the separatists”» – with which competition or fiscal “dumping” is avoided, that is to say “asking on one side and giving on the other”, and thus each autonomy sees its services and skills guaranteed. “If we have to start from a model, it must be the current one and it seems logical that to liquidate the old one, it is necessary to compensate the four underfunded communities, including Castilla-La Mancha.”
When asked why Sánchez told him and whether he came out of the meeting calmer, Page responded “no more and no less” than before, and that he could not comment on what the president said “because I am not his spokesperson.” What he openly stated was that “the ERC document is a concert like the top of a pine tree and is inadmissible. The only new thing is that the reform of the system will concern the entire system; If it’s a special diet, no.
Before Page, the presidents of Valencia passed through Sánchez’s office, Carlos Mazonand Murcia, Fernando Lopez Miraswho asked the president not to paralyze the Tajo-Segura transfer, a position in contradiction with that of Castilla-La Mancha, which – through the mouth of its president – asked Sánchez to accelerate the process modification of operating rules of this water diversion, which gradually reduces water supplies to the Levante for the benefit of the economic development of Castile-La Mancha and which should have been approved since last February.
A moment of conversation between the two leaders, already seated in the office
The President of Castile-La Mancha made it clear that “a system that grants privileges to Catalonia over the rest cannot be imposed” and this was conveyed to the head of the Executive, in addition to other fundamental issues for the region such as energy, employment or infrastructure. Page also told Sánchez that Castilla-La Mancha is a leading autonomous community in the production of renewable energy, and that is why it is committed to continuing to do so but, at the same time, being able to take advantage of it in the industrial development of the region.
