The Government and ERC closed a budget agreement this Tuesday that incorporates investments in financing, transport, language, health, education, and housing, and which Salvador Illa and Oriol Junqueras presented after meeting in the Gothic Gallery of the Palau de la Generalitat. The pact sets as one of its axes the approval of the new financing model in Congress before the end of the year for it to come into effect in 2027.
The main limitation of the agreement appears in one of its central points. The text includes the delegation of powers for the collection of IRPF, a claim previously rejected by the central government, and the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, admitted at the same time that this issue will be left out of the State-Generalitat bilateral commission this Wednesday and that its approval does not depend solely on the Catalan parties.
The agreement links financing to 2027 and leaves IRPF out of the bilateral meeting
Romero appeared from the Palau de la Generalitat and maintained that the pact responds to a transformation agenda, although she recalled that the project still needs more support to move forward in the Parliament. Specifically, she pointed out that the votes of En Comú Podem are missing.
"If I had to highlight one, it is that it responds to the sense of country and the will for this country to move forward" - Alícia Romero, Minister of Economy, Generalitat de Catalunya
The agreement also provides for the approval of the forgiveness of the FLA debt within six months, with an impact of more than 17,000 million euros for Catalonia. Added to this is a program contract between the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Agència Tributària de Catalunya with an additional 21 million for technological, data management, and organizational changes.
It also includes the creation of a commercial company to plan and oversee the execution of state works, a tool that the Government links to both railway investments and the transfer of Rodalies. The investment plan until 2030 will continue within this framework, with projects such as the orbital train line and the debate on Rodalies.
Health, schools, and housing concentrate more than 1,000 million in new allocations
The sectoral part of the pact reserves 250 million euros for the healthcare system to alleviate treasury tensions. Education will receive 100 million to air-condition a hundred schools, 400 million for investment in centers, 50 million for the school voucher, and the creation of 250 new reception classrooms.
In parallel, Esther Niubó, Minister of Education, will meet with the majority unions to try to redirect the strikes called until the end of the school year. The budget negotiation thus coincides with an open conflict in the centers while the Department of Education plans new investments.
Housing adds another of the largest blocks. The Government will launch an extraordinary instrument with 160 million annually for rehabilitation and recovery of the degraded residential park, along with an ICF line of 50 million for three years managed by a structure of 20 people.
The agreement adds 400 million for the Pla de Pobles, aimed at recovering degraded areas in small municipalities. In the linguistic chapter, the Generalitat will reserve 50 million for three years to increase the presence of Catalan on social networks, 35 million to strengthen the Department of Linguistic Policy and expand places in the Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística, in addition to 10.3 million to promote its social use within the framework of the Pacte Nacional per la Llengua.
Negotiations with the commons remain open on housing and the airport model
The Government's next political front involves the meeting scheduled for this Wednesday with Jéssica Albiach's group. Romero admitted that there is little room to accept demands such as an additional 650 million for housing or a reformulation of the R Aeroport, although she left open the possibility of incorporating them in the next two years.
The pact between the Government and ERC also includes promoting legislative changes to create the Catalan Airport Authority and a bilateral coordination body for the Catalan airport system, a folder connected with the Catalan airport model. This point, unlike the forgiveness of the FLA, does not yet have a definitive deadline for state approval.
"It is not in our hands, but we hope it can be approved and the 4,700 million euros can be incorporated into the 2027 budget" - Alícia Romero, Minister of Economy, Generalitat de Catalunya
Romero placed the expected impact of the approval of the new financing model within the 2027 budget at 4,700 million euros.