While Puigdemont demanded an amnesty from Sánchez in exchange for his support for the investiture, ERC demanded a write-off of the Catalan government’s debt. Sánchez accepted both agreements, and yesterday, the Council of Ministers approved the draft law that will allow a write-off of €83.252 billion for all regions except the Basque Country and Navarra, which are not under the common regime.
To make the measure more palatable, the government extended the debt write-off to all autonomous communities, although the criteria used are bizarre. Some sound reasonable—population, aging, etc.—but others are difficult to justify: priority is given to the most indebted communities and those that have raised taxes, while those that lowered them are punished…
Finally, Andalusia—currently governed by the PP and where the current Minister of Finance will be the PSOE candidate in the next elections—is the one that would have the largest amount of debt forgiven (€18.791 billion), with Catalonia being the second (€17.104 billion). The Community of Madrid, a standard-bearer for the PP in its tax reduction policy, will only have €8.644 billion forgiven.
Since the debt forgiveness does not make the debts disappear but only transfers them to the state, the final result is that each Catalan will see their public debt level reduced by about €400 per person, while each person from Madrid will see it increase in the same proportion, €400 .
Coordinated by the leader of the PP, the 12 communities where they govern have refused to participate in the maneuver, which has unleashed attacks from the Minister of Finance—”What family would refuse to have a debt forgiven?”—ignoring that the debt does not disappear; it only changes hands, although in the end, it must be paid by all taxpayers.
“I refuse to have the ‘procés‘ debts paid by the people of Madrid,” explained Isabel Díaz Ayuso, summarizing the PP’s position.
