Astonishment, nonsense, absurdity… the Spanish press is running out of adjectives to describe the sensation caused by the announcement from Catalan pro-independence leader Oriol Junqueras (who was pardoned by the Government). Junqueras claims to have reached an agreement with Pedro Sánchez to launch a new regional financing system that would mean nearly €5 billion more for Catalonia. Upon leaving his meeting with Sánchez, the separatist leader boasted of having persuaded the Spanish Government to accept his demand to respect the so-called “principle of ordinality.” In other words, under the new system, the community that contributes the most would be the one that receives the most, while those that contribute the least would receive the least. Effectively, the financing system would not alter the “ranking” of wealth among Spain’s various Common Regime Autonomous Communities. (The Basque Country and Navarre enjoy a different system, known as the “Concierto” and “Cupo,” featuring their own tax agencies—haciendas forales—which pay the State a small percentage of their income for “common services” such as defense and foreign representation).
This “Concierto and Cupo” system [Economic Agreement and Quota] is exactly what Carles Puigdemont—the separatist leader and fugitive from justice who propelled Sánchez to the presidency with his seven seats in exchange for an amnesty for everyone involved in the 2017 independence process—is aiming for. It is precisely the absence of this “concierto” that justifies Junts’ opposition to the agreement between Sánchez and Junqueras. This deal also faces outright rejection from all other autonomous communities and numerous regionalist parties across the country, who feel slighted by an agreement that, according to the Government, should be supported by everyone since it allegedly provides more funds for all regions, not just Catalonia.
Unable to pass a national budget since 2022, it seems highly unlikely that the Government and ERC will manage to push through a deal like the one proposed. However, it appears the pact will be sufficient for Salvador Illa—the Socialist President of the Generalitat—to pass his own budget in Catalonia and for Sánchez to attempt to demonstrate that the legislature remains viable.
Socialist leaders in Aragon, Castile-Leon, and Andalusia, facing elections this year, aren’t exactly thrilled that the Sánchez government might strike a bilateral funding deal with a Catalan separatist leader. They would be forced to pitch this deal as a win for their own voters—a task that seems, quite frankly, like an impossible mission.
