The Hesitation of the PSC and the Criticism of ERC
The ERC party has found in the PSC’s indecision with Catalonia’s new financing system an opportunity to question Salvador Illa and expose him to contradictions in his speech about addressing the population’s problems.
The recently appointed Deputy Minister of Strategy and Communication, Sergi Sabrià, believes that if the PSC does not join the demands of ERC and Junts to negotiate a new financing system that addresses the particularities of the country and puts an end to the historic fiscal deficit, Illa will remain disqualified from governing Catalonia.
According to Sabrià, it is surprising that the PSC always chooses the PSOE instead of prioritizing Catalonia, which he considers a mistake.
The Challenge of the New Financing System
The new regional financing system, pending updating since 2014, represents a challenge for the central government, which must balance the demands for Catalonia’s uniqueness with the needs of the rest of the autonomous communities.
The PSC has shown its support for Madrid instead of backing demands for special funding for Catalonia, which has generated tensions with pro-independence parties.
The Republicans seek to take advantage of this ambiguity to pressure the PSC in the face of the next elections in Parliament, arguing that the lack of solutions to the population’s problems disqualifies a party from governing.
Slowness in Budget Negotiations
The Deputy Minister of Strategy has acknowledged that the Catalan budgets are behind schedule and has blamed the opposition for the slowness in negotiations.
The Catalan government has everything ready to approve the budgets in the Executive Council and take them to Parliament, but is seeking a broad agreement to guarantee its approval.
The conversations are more advanced with the PSC, while with Junts it costs more, mainly due to scheduling problems.
The deputy minister has warned that Junts could approve the Spanish budgets before the Catalan ones, which he considers an unusual situation.
