The ministry led by María Jesús Montero faces a critical day to save the tax reform or at least, the minimum taxation of 15% for large groups and multinationals committed to Brussels and linked to the disbursement of the fifth installment of European funds. After a “marathon” day at the Congress of Deputies, the Socialists managed to save the transposition of this directive after reaching an agreement at the Finance Commission with EH Bildu, ERC and BNG to extend the tax on businesses by one year energy. However, this commitment is in contradiction with what was agreed with Junts. Podemos does not want to provide its support in vain and he has already threatened to vote against it, as he did in December for unemployment benefits.
It is for this reason that the government began an ‘in extremis’ negotiation with this group, with which it seeks to convince its four representatives in the Lower House to abstain during the plenary vote on Thursday, which would allow advance the rule. counting on the rest of the support from the investiture bloc. His support appears ruled out after his spokespeople conditioned their vote in favor of the energy tax is maintained as designed to respond to the price crisis of the war in Ukraine, without excluding entities that invest to reduce their climate impact. MP Javier Sánchez Serna explained that his group did not join the left pact because he considered that what the majority partner of the Executive had put on the table was an “empty promise”.
The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Finance and Head of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, are in contact with Belarra to explore avenues for an agreement. Montero’s team would be inclined to design “decarbonization incentives” despite the rejection that the purples have publicly expressed towards this type of approach. “It is not enough for us to represent Junts and the PNV, but we want the tax“influence of this formation, according to EFE. At the same time, the party of Carles Puigdemont emphasizes that what they have agreed on is that “there will be no tax, no ‘tax or something similar’.
The Executive therefore evolves in a complicated dance of balance, in which it must find a way to satisfy the nationalist partners on the left and those on the right, very careful not to compromise the investments or jobs generated in the energy sector. companies or in the banking sector – where a new rate of 7% has been agreed, which will tax income from 5 billion euros -. At the same time, it is necessary to contain the Belarra group, which has already put into practice its capacity to block measures linked to Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Fund at the end of last year with the reform promoted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy.
Almost a year later, the government risks once again losing part of the 7.2 billion euros allocated to the next envelope of European funds. Although this is not the only risk presented by this tax package, which was thinned during the parliamentary process due to lack of support – taxes on diesel or SOCIMI -, it was also included in the structural adjustment plan submitted to the European Commission just a month ago.
