The leader of the PSPV and senator, Ximo Puig, continues with his particular crusade to open a debate within the PSOE to, as he said yesterday at the UIK summer course at the Miramar Palace in San Sebastián, promote "a new territorial pact for a plural society, to reform the territorial structure of the State with the principles and techniques of federalism". For which he requested to reread the so-called "Granada agreement" that the PSOE agreed on in July 2013 and that proposed a series of measures to face a revision of the territorial model in Spain.
Puig stressed that "a very important reference to the sense of possible and necessary federalizing reforms, in relation to the Autonomous State, is contained in the so-called 'Granada agreement', an important effort by the PSOE to propose concrete initiatives to move forward".
Before referring to the "Granada agreement", the former Valencian president criticized the lack of stable co-governance mechanisms in the State, despite their effectiveness "as could be seen during the pandemic". "We saw how our decentralization is very important, even with many federal characteristics, and yet, co-governance and federal cooperation instruments are barely developed. To a large extent, the pandemic also clearly revealed the weaknesses and the need for progress and reforms in our institutional architecture," he said.
He explained that beyond the rules, "the field of values is essential for coexistence in diversity and specifically, what we could call federal loyalty." When referring to this, he said, it should be noted that it has three perspectives, " the loyalty between autonomous communities, the loyalty of the central government with them, and also the loyalty of all with the general governance of the State". clear rules, be based on permanent institutions and establish solid federalizing structures, even of constitutional rank".
In the opinion of Ximo Puig, regardless of what one wants to call it, "the pandemic made it clear that Spain is a federal country, but without federal instruments." "Federalism has revealed itself as an essential necessity. Undoubtedly there are and will be recentralizing tendencies, but Spain cannot be managed centrally because that is no longer its current social and institutional scenario."
Once again he denounced the underfinancing that the Valencian Community has suffered for decades and asked for a compensation formula for the historical debt for the underfinancing suffered for years. "The Valencian Community needs fair treatment when it comes to state investment," he added before denouncing the "disproportionate concentration of state investment in Madrid and its surroundings." On the other hand, "the fiscal dumping practiced by certain communities to the detriment of the whole is unacceptable and, therefore, a harmonized fiscal framework is essential to avoid imbalances."
At present, according to Puig, there are four clearly differentiated visions on how to reform the State in what refers to the organization of the autonomous community. "An immobilist and reticent to any real change that the PP represents, located today in a position of total confrontation that leaves little room for consensus"; another favorable to a federalist advance expressed by the PSOE; a confederal or bilateral vision raised by the nationalist forces, although with very different expressions according to the territories and an absolutely involutionist one that seeks the recentralizing destruction of the current constitutional framework and that Vox represents".
Regarding the "Granada agreement", the former president highlighted its validity on points such as the need to improve the regime of co-official status of the languages of Spain, the reform of the Senate, review the instruments of collaboration and cooperation between administrations; rationalize, clarify and complete the system of distribution of powers, recognize the singularities of different nationalities and regions and their concrete consequences or "establish the fundamental elements of the financing system of the Autonomous Communities in accordance with the principles of certainty, stability, and balance in the distribution of public resources.
