Natàlia Mas (Sant Martí de Tous, 1979) assures that the cut of 15,000 million in the debt with the State through the FLA must be completed this year whoever governs in the Generalitat. This success of the Minister of Economy with the unexpected reduction of the interest bill for Catalonia (some 1.3 billion accumulated) contrasts with the fiasco of the 2024 budgets, which were rejected in Parliament.
Without budgets, Catalonia continues to be among the autonomous communities with the highest personal income tax for low incomes.
Yes, and that is why we have proposed corrections on this issue that other political groups have not wanted to approve. Any modification in the lower part has a very large impact on the finances of the Generalitat. We propose this modification when we materialize significant gains in financing. We cannot carry out a modification, a reduction in personal income tax, if the other political groups do not vote in favor of us.
If this tax reform is so necessary, why didn't they approve it in December without waiting for the budget? This way it could have come into force in January.
Because, usually, tax modifications are included in the Budget Accompanying Measures law. We also thought that the measure would help in the negotiation with various political parties and, therefore, again, the surprise here is to see the irresponsibility of knocking down accounts that, apart from not allowing much-needed resources to reach public services, prevent a reduction in personal income tax for the lowest incomes.
The non-approval of the Catalan budgets makes those of Spain impossible. What happens with the commitment that the Generalitat executes the State's investments in Catalonia?
The commitment is that the State, starting in 2024, would budget for Catalonia 19% of the total State investments and the Generalitat would execute the bulk of them. It is a radical change. Unfortunately, the State does not carry out the budgets. It is another domino effect of this irresponsibility, which has a very high cost for Catalonia.
Therefore, in 2024 the commitment is no longer fulfilled.
In 2024 it will no longer be fulfilled, but we are on top of these executions. We carry out continuous monitoring to guarantee that the State leaves this lack of execution behind.
You were one of those who designed and got the FLA reduction. What happens if they are not still in the Government?
That is not at risk. In fact, this cancellation has already been incorporated by several rating agencies that have improved our credit rating. It is a written agreement that will materialize this year 2024. A historic agreement that represents a financing improvement that we have had to defend alone.
After calling elections you presented the unique financing model that the JEC has described as propaganda.
I disagree. We had a government agreement that required us to present this proposal in the first quarter of the year and we have done so. This warning did not merit a sanction. So, I think that says it all.
Wouldn't it have been better to present it jointly with another party if, as you say, it is a central issue for Catalonia?
The electoral call has taken us all by surprise. The objective was to put this issue at the center of the debate, do pedagogy on it and achieve this unanimous consensus, almost with all the majority political forces.
In an interview he said that an acceptable solidarity with Spain would be between 2 and 4% of Catalonia's GDP.
We did not want to presuppose the result. We are talking about a change in model focused on collection, on income, because only through this change and guaranteeing collection, will we be able to guarantee transparency, rigor and justice regarding resources.
But would between 2 and 4% of GDP be acceptable?
I think it is not good for this negotiation and for the materialization of the agreement that we now publicly indicate a figure. That has to be a bilateral negotiation with the State.
So?
In Alberta, the Canadian province with the highest fiscal deficit, it reaches 3.9% of GDP. Therefore, we already know where these ranges are. Here it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel, but rather to look up and ask for a change in the model that is current in other territories, other countries that work better.
The 3.9% includes solidarity with other communities and payment of services to the State.
Yes, everything is here.
And this percentage of solidarity in the Canadian region is the highest in the entire world?
No. It is difficult to identify the figures for all these cantons, provinces or länder. What is clear is that no one has 10% like Catalonia. It is excessive and, therefore, we have to move from this plunder to a well-understood solidarity.
Should the Prado museum in Madrid be financed from Catalonia or not?
We open the debate. What cannot be is that now we do not know if the taxes of the Catalans are going to finance that or not, because we do not know. It's a black hole.
Meanwhile, the economy has good prospects.
We have improved the GDP growth forecast for 2024 by three tenths to 2.1%. We will continue to grow with a significant differential with respect to the euro zone. This upward revision is due to two issues, above all an improvement in consumption favored by the resilience of the labor market and, on the other hand, an improvement in the records of the foreign sector.
However, productivity has still not fully recovered to previous levels.
The use of technological content has increased in recent years. A change in the production model and, therefore, a substantial improvement in productivity is seen in the medium and long term.
The Ministry of Economy says that Catalonia is the community that executes the least Next Generation.
The ministry has already assumed that they published an error, that the figures contained an error. I myself wrote a letter to Minister Corps demanding an immediate correction of these figures. Of everything received by Next Generation, the Generalitat has mobilized 86%. We are at 56% allocation regarding mobilization.
You are not going on the ERC lists for the elections. If ERC does not govern, will he leave politics?
For me this period has been an immense honor and I think we have made a very good team. I will continue to serve Catalonia and my political group, which is Esquerra, and I will be happy to help, to serve in the place that is considered most appropriate.
