Pedro Sanchez This Wednesday he inaugurated the political course with a speech in which he made two announcements, “more money” for the autonomous communities and “more taxes on the rich”, but without mentioning at any time the Catalan concerta debate that he wants to keep away from the political and media arena at all costs.
During the more than 25 minutes that his speech lasted, held at Cervantes Institutedid not name the pact agreed between the CFP And MRC invest as president of the Generalitat Salvador Illa.
Among the priorities set by the government, Sánchez promised a new regional financing system “fairer” to reduce the territorial differences and that in this way all communities receive more resources. This model will also address, as the president has guaranteed, the singularities of each autonomous community.
“THE decentralization is perfectly compatible with ensuring solidarity and equity between territories and also with ensuring the sufficiency of resources,” he said.
To address this issue, the head of the Executive announced that he would meet at Moncloa to each of the presidents autonomous over the next few weeks.
President Pedro Sánchez promised “more money” for all autonomies
Specifically, Sánchez promised that “each of the autonomous communities would receive more resources than they received when the Popular Party was in power” and that to this end, the resources of the interterritorial compensation fund would be doubled.
From the PP, they blocked the announcement of Sánchez as “deception”in the words of Cuca Gamarraparty secretary general. “The credibility of Pedro Sánchez’s word is worth absolutely nothing,” he assured, demanding that the financing model be negotiated.multilaterally” and through a Conference of Presidents as provided by law, which has not been convened since March 2022.
Against Ayuso
The other big announcement, and to finance all of the above, is summed up in this sentence: “More taxes for those who already have enough money in the bank to live 100 lives.” Sánchez has pledged to promote more progressive taxation, one of the social banners of the coalition government.
“Spain will be a better country if there are more electric cars made in Spain, more public buses and therefore more public transport and fewer Lamborghinis.”
During a large part of his speech, Sánchez dedicated himself to attacking the management of the autonomous governments of the PP. The President of the Government presented his social policy against the model “outdated neoliberal” who represent the barons of Alberto Nuñez Feijoo and this, according to him, only leads to a “program contrary to the interests of the minority” because it gives priority to “goods” rather than to “rights”.
Sanchez’s criticism, in a speech supported by all his ministers, was directed in particular at the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayusowhich he accuses of lowering taxes “on the richest”, of benefiting “those at the top” and of reducing health and education spending. “The autonomous leaders of the opposition”, —This is how he spoke about the regional presidents of the PP—“They blame everything on the central government and say that we do not give them public resources. That is a lie,” Sánchez said.
Negotiating with the PP
And while Sánchez began his political career, the first vice-president of the government and Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Monteroappeared in the plenary session of the Senate at the request of the PP to give explanations on the Catalan concert.
The number two of the Government has launched a proposal to the PP to address the reform of regional financing: to negotiate “without electricity or stenographers”. For the first vice-president, a discreet negotiation is the right way to avoid territorial tensions that could make an agreement difficult, as has happened so far.
The Finance Minister also criticized “territorial confrontation” strategy of the most popular. Montero assured that his department has conducted negotiations with the territories to “try to promote the reform”, but that the interests “that come together in one part of the territory have difficulty reconciling in another.”
“If we settle into a position of maximums, we cannot reach a meeting point”lamented the vice-president, who stressed that, in addition, the current climate encourages that if a territory seems willing to “bring positions closer together”, this means “a betrayal of the regional parliaments”. Hence their desire to take the negotiation within the parties.
That is to say, Montero’s proposal and, consequently, that of the government, is that of refrain from relying on the advice of territorial executives when it comes to financing these same territories.
“A working group to discuss regional funding that can move forward without constant pressure of what in each territory can be experienced as a real aspiration, but which makes it impossible to have a common model that satisfies the entire territory in a moderately satisfactory manner,” the Minister of Finance summed up.
