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🇪🇸 Spain /Economy & Trade

Spain offers regions €21 billion more and will negotiate funding with Junts

From La Vanguardia · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement Ongoing story
  • Spain’s Fiscal and Financial Policy Council approved a proposed regional financing model that would give autonomous communities €21 billion in additional resources.
  • The proposal received support only from Catalonia and the Canary Islands, while all regions governed by the People’s Party opposed it and Madrid did not attend.
  • The government needs Junts’ support in Congress, where the party is preparing a full amendment because the proposal does not provide a distinct financing system for Catalonia.

Spain’s government has cleared the first procedural hurdle for a new regional financing system, but the harder battle lies ahead in Congress. The proposed model would add €21 billion in resources for the autonomous communities, while leaving out the full transfer of personal income tax requested by some Catalan forces.

The Fiscal and Financial Policy Council approved the proposal developed by the Finance Ministry and ERC. Its origins lie in the investiture agreement that made Salvador Illa president of Catalonia. The current financing system dates from 2009 and, according to the article, has been outdated for 12 years.

It is good for our country, for unity and for public services.

· Arcadi EspañaSpain’s finance minister defended the proposed regional financing model after its approval.

The proposal passed with only the votes of Catalonia and the Canary Islands. All communities governed by the People’s Party voted against it, including Andalusia, Valencia, Galicia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Extremadura, Castile and León, Cantabria, Murcia and La Rioja. Castilla-La Mancha and Asturias, both governed by the Socialist Party, also rejected the government’s proposal. Ceuta and Melilla opposed it as well, while Madrid, which had called for a boycott, did not attend. The proposal was therefore rejected by 87% of the territories represented in the vote.

Our obligation is to find a balance.

· Arcadi EspañaEspaña described the government’s aim in distributing resources among the autonomous communities.

Finance Minister Arcadi España said the model must next be approved by the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks before going to the Congress of Deputies. He defended it as good for Spain, unity and public services, and urged parliamentary groups to keep “noise and fury” away from the debate. He said the government hoped the new system could enter into force on January 1, 2027.

The government now needs to negotiate with Junts. The Catalan party plans to submit a full amendment, arguing that the proposal contains no distinct financing system. The Catalan government celebrated the council’s approval, while the government’s supporters face opposition from both regional administrations and parties that say the model was agreed with ERC and imposed on the other territories.

Keep the noise and fury away.

· Arcadi EspañaThe finance minister urged parliamentary groups to avoid escalating the financing debate.
About this summary

Originally published by La Vanguardia in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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