The CCAAs see an agreement to reform financing a long way off after one year of the last Treasury proposal

Since the CCAAs sent their allegations, no movement has been made to change the model

MADRID, 4 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The proposal sent by the Ministry of Finance to the autonomous communities to reform the autonomous financing system has been one year old this weekend and, at this point, several regional governments see it as very difficult for an agreement to be reached during this legislature to materialize a new financing model, although many attribute it to the Executive of Pedro Sánchez.

It was on December 3, 2021 when the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, sent her proposal to the common regime communities, Ceuta and Melilla, based on the adjusted population criterion, with variables that the regions commonly known as 'underfinanced' were asking for. ': the Valencian Community, Andalusia and Murcia.

After this, the Treasury gave the autonomous communities until January 31 to send their allegations to the proposal, and since then there has been no other movement to reform the autonomous financing system, despite the fact that several regional governments asked to convene a specific Fiscal and Financial Policy Council for this matter.

In fact, several regional presidents have conveyed to the Chief Executive, Pedro Sánchez, in various meetings the need to reform this model and the claim for a compensatory fund or debt forgiveness while this update of the financing system materializes.

Within the autonomous communities governed by the 'popular' there are several forecasts regarding the deadlines to finish reforming the regional financing, since from Andalusia, Murcia or Galicia they see that it cannot be given during this legislature, in Castilla y León they do not lose " the hope".

This opinion in Castilla y León has been expressed by the spokesman for the Junta, Carlos Fernández Carriedo, who has asked Sánchez to include this issue on his agenda: "This is not about how the autonomies are financed but about how Education is financed, Health or Social Services".

On the other hand, sources from the Government of Murcia have indicated to Europa Press that they have indeed lost hope that the Sánchez Executive will address the reform of the financing system this legislature and brand the latest Treasury proposal as a "smoke screen ".

From Galicia, the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, considers that the Sánchez government "has no intention in this legislature" to close an agreement. In any case, he has valued the pact between eight communities in the "Santiago declaration" as a "base" to start negotiating.

In Catalonia, sources from the Generalitat also believe that they will not go ahead: "It seems to us that the issue is closed. At some point an idea was launched but that it only incorporated small changes and did not go into the substance of the matter. We continue to ask that it be address this issue."

In the case of Andalusia, sources from the Ministry of Economy, Treasury and European Funds have pointed out to Europa Press that, when one year has passed since the Treasury proposal, "not only has progress not been made, but it has gone backwards" .

For this reason, the Board once again insists on a transitory fund, which they recall was agreed with the Generalitat Valenciana and Murcia, to equalize the financing to the average of the autonomous communities, a demand that Juanma Moreno himself also conveyed to Pedro Sánchez in his meeting in La Moncloa this summer.

On the other hand, the Balearic Islands believe that progress has been made during this legislature and, although the Government admits that due to deadlines it would be "very difficult" to approve a reform before the next general elections, they do not rule it out completely. In any case, they insist that a project of this magnitude must be carried out with "broad majority" agreements.

Sources from the Ministry of Finance have pointed out to Europa Press that the reform that was carried out with the socialists José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Francesc Antich had positive points, and they have highlighted that the Community has received 26 percent more resources this year compared to 2021.

However, the Balearic Government claims greater transparency and participation in the distribution criteria, a cancellation of the debt generated by the previous underfinancing, greater autonomy in the management of income and that the principle of ordinality be respected. In addition, the archipelago claims to take into account overpopulation and the floating population as factors that overload public services.

After the autonomous communities submitted their allegations to the Treasury proposal, several Socialist Executives already warned that this reform of the financing model was not going to take place during this legislature.

This was the case, for example, of the president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, who at that time guaranteed that there was not going to be a reform of regional financing in the remainder of the legislature and that the project would already be addressed in the next one.

Also from the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, sources from the Ministry of Finance pointed out to Europa Press at that time that the financing model is not going to be reformed this legislature because "for this there must be political calm" and we are in "full electoral processes, so it doesn't seem like the most suitable climate".

For its part, the Asturian Government points out in sources the complexity of reviewing financing given the current fragmentation of Parliament and the disparate interests of each autonomous community.

Already in February, the president of Asturias, Adrián Barbón, after meeting with his counterpart from Cantabria, Miguel Ángel Revilla, from the PRC, and, in a joint press conference, indicated that they do not believe that the reform of the regional financing system will come out forward in this legislature in view of the complexity of the matter and that the first proposal of the Ministry of Finance has not satisfied "any" community.

For all these reasons, both saw it as "very difficult" -- "almost impossible," according to Revilla -- for the reform of the financing system to culminate in the remainder of the legislature. "And I'm almost glad because if something is going to come out that is going to ruffle a part of Spain, we already have enough controversial issues to add one more," said the Cantabrian.