There is an agreement in principle between the socialists and ERC (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya) to invest the socialist Salvador Illa as president of the Generalitat. The pact includes a “solidarity economic agreement” that will take Catalonia out of the common regime of autonomic financing and will cede to the Generalitat the management of 100% of the taxes. Although, according to the socialists, it will differ from the so-called “Basque quota” in that it will maintain a “solidarity quota”.
The agreement includes another series of measures such as the creation of a department of linguistic policy to promote the Catalan language and must be endorsed on Friday by the 8,700 militants of ERC, whose spokespersons assure that “having the key to the fund was a fundamental element and we had to guarantee it”. Currently the Generalitat has ceded 50% of the income tax, 50% of the VAT and 58% of the special taxes.
Some socialist leaders have already charged against the agreement, and the president of Castilla La Mancha, García Page recognizes that this “serious attack on equality” has left him “perplexed”.
