The 41st Federal Congress of the PSOE, which will be held at the end of November in Seville, will have to resolve the internal tensions born from Pedro Sánchez’s commitment to transfer the collection of all taxes to the Generalitat of Cataloniathrough a concert similar to that of the Basque Country and Navarre.
At least six PSOE federations (those of Madrid, Aragon, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Galicia and Extremadura) have approved amendments to the section on regional financing of the document which will be debated at the Seville Congress.
The official presentation makes no reference to Catalan quotanor to the agreement signed with ERC to withdraw this Autonomous Community from the common financing regime.
Europe Press
But this includes the commitment to reform the regional financing system so that “all autonomous communities have more resources than they currently have”.
In accordance with what was agreed in Catalonia, it proposes “federalize tax management give more decision-making capacity to the Autonomous Communities” and “deploy a network strategy with regional treasuries”.
He also alludes to the need to “negotiate relief from the public debt of the Autonomous Communities generated during the financial crisis.” The PSOE has already negotiated and accepted with ERC the cancellation of the 15 billion euros of debt of the Generalitat.
In another section, the PSOE presentation criticizes the fact that the current system of regional financing “generates a redistribution where autonomous communities with greater fiscal capacity they end up receiving fewer resources than other territories“.
This “redistribution” that the PSOE is now calling into question (as Junts and ERC have been doing for years) is what allows the richest communities to contribute to maintaining the public services of those that generate the least income.
The new financing mechanism, affirms the PSOE, must make compatible “multilaterality and bilaterality with a common denominator reconcilable with the adequate, and not privileged, treatment of singularities“. And he specifies that “maintaining solidarity” between the regions must also imply “an equal fiscal effort” between them.
The document also includes a depth charge against the regional executives of the PP. While promising greater “regulatory fiscal capacity” to the autonomous communities, he emphasizes that it is necessary to avoid “downward competition in terms of taxes such as Assets, inheritances or highest income tax brackets“. These are precisely the taxes that the PP governments have reduced, within the framework of their powers.
These are the main amendments that the critical PSOE federations have approved and will defend at the Seville Congress.
Madrid
The PSOE of Madrid, led by Juan Lobato, demands that the new financing system responds to the principle of “social justice“. That is to say that each community contributes “according to its economic capacities and receives according to its needs”, contrary to the criteria imposed in the official presentation.
Another of the amendments that the PSOE of Madrid will defend requires that the Tax Administration “continues to be a central element” in the management of taxes throughout Spain, instead of cutting it into pieces, as the current leadership wishes national party.
These amendments are approved by the base, more precisely, they need the support of 30% of the members of the provincial federation.— and not by regional management, reports Europa Press.
Castile-La Mancha
The PSOE of Castile-La Mancha included in its amendments Emiliano García-Page’s proposal to approve a tax harmonization law. With this rule, Page asks to guarantee that the Spaniards must have the same tax obligations, in the same way as they have the right to access comparable public servicesregardless of where they live.
The socialist baron described “obscene” and “embarrassing” the pact signed by his party to transfer the collection of all taxes to the Generalitat. He defends that the new regional financing model must be the result of a “multilateral” negotiation and that resources must be redistribute among Spaniards, not “between territories”.
Galicia
Although the general secretary of the Galician PSOE, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, is one of the regional leaders most loyal to Pedro Sánchez, the PSOE of Pontevedra has approved several amendments in which he asks to eliminate from the presentation the federalization of the Tax Agency (as well as the Madrid federation).
The PSOE of Pontevedra also warns that “a specific pact between parties of an autonomous community”, like the one signed by the Catalan socialists with the ERC for the inauguration of Salvador Illa, cannot condition “the general political ideology » of the party.
Extremadura
Although at the moment they do not reveal the content, the Socialists of Extremadura also confirm that they have approved the amendments to the financing section of the presentation to Congress.
Its regional leader, Miguel Ángel Gallardo, demanded last August (without success) an urgent meeting of the PSOE Federal Political Council to discuss the transfer of all taxes to Catalonia.
Gallardo defends an autonomous financing system based on principles such as “equality, social justice, certainty, stability and balance” between regions.
Castile and León
The PSOE of Castilla y León, led by Luis Tudanca, has already announced that it will present amendments so that the new regional financing system is based on the principles defended in the Santiago Declarationthat eight regional presidents (of the PP and PSOE) approved in 2021.
During this summit, the regional presidents defended that the new financing mechanism must take into account criteria such as dispersal, aging, depopulationthe area and effective cost of providing public services in each community.
Aragon
The general secretary of the PSOE of Aragon, Javier Lambán, denounced the government’s decision to withdraw Catalonia from the common regime, to grant it the economic agreement, “goes against the Constitution“. This federation has proposed amendments in which it calls for “equitable” regional and local funding, and without privileged treatment for certain regions.
