In the dilemma of investiture pact or new elections, Pedro Sanchez Since the 23J elections, he has opted to maintain and expand (forced by the results) his parliamentary alliances to be re-elected president by the Congress of Deputies. This is a legitimate option, in accordance with our parliamentary system, which must be assessed based on the content of the agreements and which, in the specific case of the Catalan parliamentary minorities (ERC and JxCat), demands not to confuse a tactical investiture pact with a “historic agreement” between Catalonia and the rest of Spain for which many other participants would be missing. It is the small print of the agreements, and not the grand stories, that must be analyzed so that citizens can draw their own conclusions.
This is the case, to begin with, of the investiture agreement signed on Thursday between the PSOE and ERC. Today we will stop to analyze its second annex, 5 pages, out of a total of 14, on “a significant improvement in public resources allocated to the citizens of Catalonia.” The agreement is based on a shared diagnosis: Catalonia, one of the main economic engines of Spain, has suffered a under-execution of investments and some aspects of the financing system, together with the debt burden, affect their financial autonomy and their ability to obtain financing in the markets.
The pact, from this logic, It does not imply a change in the financing system, which is left for later negotiation, with two statutory provisions as background: the principle of ordinality – the State must guarantee that the leveling mechanisms do not alter the position of Catalonia in the organization of regional per capita income – and the additional provision on investment in infrastructure. Meanwhile, in order to clean up the financial situation of the Generalitat and facilitate its return to the debt markets, the agreement establishes “the assumption by the State of part of the regional debt with this, caused by the negative impact of the economic cycle.
The letter of the agreement, contrary to what the first criticisms from the PP assumed, later qualified, provides for its application in all common regime autonomies, that is, except the Basque Country and Navarra. It is not a reform of the financing system, which would require a State agreement that in the current circumstances seems implausible, but It would also benefit highly indebted communities such as Valencia and Andalusia., unlike the Madrid woman, who considers it “a misery.” The haircut will be determined based on how much of the increase in debt is due to the impact of the economic cycle. A part of this increase, as the agreement states, was a consequence of the impact of the 2009-2013 crisis on regional finances and the insufficient European and State response unlike what happened in the last two years.
In the case of Catalonia, with figures from 2022, the public debt amounted to 84,518 million euros, while in 2007 the Catalan debt stood at 15,766 million. With the partial forgiveness that is now agreed, this operation will mean the assumption of 20% of the outstanding debt by the State. So far, the small print of an agreement that does not mean that Catalonia wins to the detriment of anyone, as has been said, but will benefit all citizens.