The PSC and the ERC have agreed on a financing formula for Catalonia, similar to the economic agreement that currently governs Euskadi and Navarra. According to him document concluded by both partiesThe Socialists commit to transforming the Catalan Tax Agency, created in 2007, into a real Catalan treasury that will take over all the taxes paid by Catalans and will have its own financing from 2025.
According to this agreement, it would be the Generalitat that, after collection, would pay two annual contributions to the State, one to pay for the services of the central government in Catalonia and another in solidarity with the rest of the communities. Both amounts would have to be negotiated bilaterally.
Furthermore, the text sent indicates that Socialists and Republicans agree on “the creation of a new financing model for the Generalitat of Catalonia, based on bilateral negotiations with the State.” A new self-financing based on a principle: “That the Generalitat is the one that manages, collects, liquidates and inspects all the taxes borne in Catalonia,” on the one hand, and that the “Catalan contribution to the State finances” is limited to “the contribution for the costs of the services that the State provides to Catalonia and the contribution to solidarity.”
The agreed formula is also remarkably similar to that included in the first version of the Catalan Statute of September 2005, as it emerged from the Parliament of Catalonia. One of the central paragraphs of the agreement is a copy and paste of Article 205 of that Statute, which was later repealed by Congress and finally by the Constitutional Court.
Implementing a pact with these characteristics in 2024 will mean a comprehensive reform of the regional financing system that has governed Spain for forty years. And it will require major legislative changes that are contemplated in the agreed document but not described in detail. The most obvious is the Law on the Financing of Autonomous Communities (LOFCA), last reformed in 2009 and which, because it has organic status, requires an absolute majority in Congress to be amended.
The majority required for the agreement reached for the inauguration of Salvador Illa is still far from being articulated in Congress, since several formations such as Compromís or Chunta Aragonesista (both integrated into Sumar) have distanced themselves from the Catalan Concert if their territories do not receive support, a similar status or at least compensation for the damage to the system as a whole that the departure of Catalonia could entail.
The government also does not has made it clear whether Catalonia will leave the common financing regime. “They know that what we have on the table is a prior agreement and they will allow me to have deep respect for the internal processes and the times that the parties have given themselves to ratify and validate this agreement,” said the minister's spokesman, limiting himself to saying: Pilar Alegría.
In the agreement reached, the Catalan Socialists and Republicans already recognize that the implementation of such a financing system must be a gradual task, using the existing tax administration as an embryo, but deploying it in stages. Initially, they indicate, it will start with the collection of personal income tax in 2025, that is, in the year 2026. From there, the assumption of tax and regulatory capacity will be progressive. For this reason, the agreement also includes transitional measures, which aim at an immediate increase in resources and for the duration of the deployment period of the Catalan Treasury.
In the linguistic field, both parties have committed to creating a Conselleria to defend the use of Catalan, which will have a “transversal action plan” that will be projected across all government departments and their policies.
Catalan, airport borders and veto against Hard Rock
The PSC also undertakes to approve, during the first 100 days of its mandate, the National Pact for Languages proposed by the current ERC government and to make available to it 200 million euros for the first year.
In public education, the determination of the presence of Spanish must be based “exclusively” on pedagogical criteria. In the event that the “prevalence” of the aforementioned pedagogical criterion is compromised, the government will promote “the necessary reforms and actions” to “defend and guarantee” it.
The PSC has also committed to maintaining the Ministry of Equality and Feminism Policies – a department first created with the arrival of Pere Aragonès in government – and the Ministry of Foreign Action. It has also agreed to “consolidate and expand” the network of Generalitat delegations abroad.
Both parties have agreed to “jointly promote” the regulation of seasonal and tourist rentals during the first year of the legislature. In turn, they have agreed to “launch an urgent program to promote protected housing” and to build 50,000 apartments between 2024 and 2030.
In the field of education, the PSC has committed itself, among other things, to implementing the free phase I1 in daycare centres for the academic year 2025-2026 and to “giving continuity” to the “work begun” to make all education “universal and free” between zero and three years. The pact provides for this free payment to be approved by law during the first year of the term of office.
The expansion of Barcelona's El Prat airport also takes up several points of the agreement. Both parties acknowledge the need to 'modernise' the airport so that it can accommodate more long-haul flights and increase 'capacity', as long as the current number of emissions generated by the equipment is not exceeded.
It has been agreed to continue the current technical commission between the Government and the Generalitat to define the “new Catalan airport management model” and for the Catalan Government to be a “determining actor” in taking “strategic decisions” regarding El Prat airport.
In this sense, it has been agreed to create a new Airport Management Council of Catalonia (CRAC) that will give the Catalan executive more weight in the aforementioned decisions, as well as the creation of the Airport Authority of Catalonia to “defend the interests of Catalonia.” “in this matter and centralize all the powers of the Generalitat in this sector.
The ERC and the PSC also committed to adopting a series of legislative innovations. Some of them during the first year of the legislature – tourist and seasonal apartments, third sector law, law on democratic memory… – and others during the rest of the mandate: law to eradicate asbestos, to protect animals, atmospheric quality, of activities generating greenhouse gases…
To ensure compliance with the announced agreements, a “monitoring committee” will be set up, composed of three representatives from each party, which will meet every six months or when requested by one of the parties.