The Government will need the vote of a single Autonomous Community to validate a bilateral financing pact with Catalonia in the CPFF

MADRID, 3 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government will need the vote of a single autonomous community to validate in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) the agreement reached bilaterally with Catalonia on regional financing, since the Ministry of Finance has half of the votes in this multilateral forum, as experts in regional financing explain to Europa Press.

The vote of this community may even be from Catalonia, which, after several years of absence from this multilateral photo, returned to the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council in 2021 through the Minister of Economy at that time, Jaume Giró .

During the previous five years, Catalonia sent senior officials from the Department of Economy, who did not have voting power in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, although in recent years it has decided that the counselor attends personally, who could be decisive in validating the bilateral agreement in this forum.

Of course, the economist Ángel de la Fuente, director of Fedea, has specified to Europa Press that the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council "does not rule" directly over the regional financing system, although it is an important body, but what is important is what is included in the autonomous financing law.

In this context, he explains that the current law does not prevent bilateral negotiations on this reform, although it must then be submitted to a vote by the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, where all the Autonomous Communities are represented.

And in this Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, the usual thing is that the Government ends up winning the votes, since the Ministry of Finance has half of the votes, while the representatives of the communities and autonomous cities each have them one vote.

The agreement reached this Thursday between PSOE and ERC for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez states that a bilateral commission will be established during the first quarter of 2024 between the Government and the Generalitat with the aim of reaching an agreement and enabling progress in achieving "of adequate financing that guarantees the financial sufficiency of the public services of Catalonia", as well as "ensuring compliance with the investment commitments contained in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia".

That is to say, as the financing law is agreed upon, to reform the system this agreement would have to be submitted to the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, which could go forward with the vote of the Government and that of Catalonia or another community.

However, the reform of regional financing would have to be materialized through an organic law, which would be submitted to a vote in Congress and the Senate, where the PP has an absolute majority and could delay the process.