“What harms the Community the least is continuing with the common model”

On the side of the BNG, they defend that the current financing system is one of the “greatest injustices” that the Community has suffered for decades. As they indicated this week during the presentation of the campaign “Galicia with the key to its money”, they consider that “while other territories like the Basque Country” have “fairer” systems and ” adapted to their reality”, Galicia continues “harmed by a centralist and outdated distribution model” which recognizes neither the “potential” nor the “economic contribution” of the Community “We understand that the recognition of a historic nation must. be consistent with the recognition of our self-government”, explains the nationalist MP to ABC. Noa Presas, who emphasizes: “Without economic autonomy, we cannot have political autonomy”

They justify it by the fact that, according to data from the 2022 financial year, the State collected 15.385 million euros in autonomy, while it only contributed 10.041 through the Autonomous Financing System . “It keeps 5,344 euros, money with which Galicia could strengthen public services and promote industrial development.” And they continue to report that since 2009, this number has increased to 59 billion. For the Bloc, this means that “there is fiscal capacity” and that Galicia “is not a subsidized country”. “We defend that Galicia can have the entire collection and, later, negotiate with the State the share that we must give it for the services it provides in Galicia, and not the other way around,” explains Presas. A crusade which is not new on the nationalist front, which has been denouncing for years “the very limited financial autonomy” of the Community and the need for a new fiscal relationship between Galicia and the State.

On the other hand, the director of the Galicia Economic Forum, Santiago Lago, assures that “Any model in which economic redistribution is reduced” is not in the interest of the Community. A gig system “benefits you when you have above-average fiscal capacity and lower needs”; In Galicia, on the other hand, the opposite happens: fiscal capacity “is less than 90% of the average” and services cost more than the average, “around 110%”. “There is no estimate […] in which Galicia comes out with a negative budget balance”, he said on Thursday during the presentation of the report “Economic impact for Galicia of the extension of consultation systems”, to which the economist – and member of the The executive of the PSdeG – also participated – they advocate that everyone takes responsibility for their calculations.

“Bad” or “worse”

In the document, the two economists from the University of Santiago de Compostela and members of the Galician Economic Forum analyze an “extreme” scenario based on the reports on the liquidation of the resources of the regional financing system in 2022, exploring how this could impact in the Community that the ERC-PSC agreement has guided regional funding reform. The first of the hypotheses presents a context of concerts generalized to all communities, without any element of solidarity, which, Depending on whether it is calculated based on GDP or population, in Galicia it would be “bad” or “worse”. In the first case, the Community would lose 2.128 million euros with the new consultation system, and relative funding per inhabitant would decrease by 22 percentage points. If it were calculated based on the number of inhabitants, the loss would be even greater: 2.647 million and 27 percentage points.

They also analyze the impact that the application of the concert system would have in Catalonia, taking into account possible degrees of solidarity that could be included in the calculation of the potential “quota” that would be negotiated with the central government: 0%, 25%, 50% or 75% of what it currently contributes to the common regime model. In all these cases, Galicia would lose its economic capacity. In the worst case, you would stop receiving 634 million euros in ordinary transferss –with data from 2022–, in other words, 6.27% less.

This figure is very similar to that presented last week by Facenda’s advisor, Miguel Corgos, who warned that Catalonia’s exit from the common regime would cost Galicia some 628 million. The losses decrease proportionally the greater the degree of solidarity, but at no time do they reach zero. The losses for Galicia if Catalonia contributed a quarter of what it contributes today would be 475 million; if he contributed half, 317 million; and if he contributed 75%, 159 million.

This is stated in the study which the director of the Forum described as “very necessary”, because “This does not enter into the political dimension, only into the figures” and analyzes the situation from a purely economic point of view.

It is impossible to anticipate what will happen, but as Leiceaga indicated in his presentation, the common regime “is a guarantee for all of Spain, and specifically for Galicia.” “We have a common model which is not perfect, but it is very united; and a concerted regional model, with very little solidarity”, he recalled, pleading to move away from extreme models and improve the common regime, by increasing the fiscal autonomy of communities or equity, for example. In brief , the two economists came to the conclusion that what “least harms” the Community is that it continues in the financing regime common autonomous region.