Those of 23-J are the fifth general elections in which the parties should have written their proposals to reform the financing model that expired in 2014 in their electoral programs. They have done it again but with hardly any specificity. It is something that already happened in the regional elections in May that gave way to the general elections today when he was practically not in the debate. So much so that in the government agreements of the different regional parliaments the financing reform hardly even appears.
The PSOE is the one that dedicates the most space to the issue in its electoral program for 23-J, committing to approve "within a maximum period of one year a new system of regional financing that guarantees the necessary resources." The proposal goes through a "model based on the principles of equity, solidarity, financial autonomy, fiscal co-responsibility, financial sufficiency and institutional loyalty." The concretion that they offer is that "the new model will recognize the higher cost that certain variables –population, area, protected population, insularity…– cause in the provision of services". The PP is committed to negotiating it with "all the communities" based on "sufficiency and sustainability" with an "equitable distribution". It also proposes to eliminate the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA). Sumar assures that it will promote "immediate reform" based on guaranteeing sufficient resources, promoting self-government and the clarity of fiscal responsibility. Vox wants to "modify certain tax regulations to ensure essential equality between Spaniards in the taxes transferred."
For ERC it is necessary to "demand a new financing system that ends the arbitrariness of the current financing system". And from Junts it is requested to "apply the principle of ordinality", compensate the Generalitat for the insufficient resources it has suffered since 2014 and incorporate the "cost of living" variable in the calculation of the resource needs of each territory.
Despite these references in the programs, the problem of the financing model has not been in the debate these last 15 days.
The specialists in the matter believe that it is a process that should start from the communities towards the central government. And not the other way around. Ana Herrero, a UNED professor, warns that "Catalonia has always been the locomotive of funding and has been involved in other battles for some time now." The specialist in regional financing adds that "if Catalonia does not make claims, most of the rest of the communities feel comfortable".
The last change in the financing system was led by Antoni Castells as Minister of Economy of the Generalitat for the PSC. “You don't have to create a new model every five years. The model must be reformed, not reinvented”, says Castells. Why do you think that the reform of the model is not in the electoral campaign of the generals or in the programs of the parties? “I don't know but it was no longer discussed in the regional campaign. I believe that nothing will be done if Catalonia does not take the lead in the reform process”, answers Castells.
During the legislature that is now ending, the Ministry of Finance for the first time in recent history raised a proposal for a partial reform of the financing system with a new adjusted population model. It was in December 2021 and almost all the communities found fault with it. That proposal was detrimental to Catalonia because it did not take into account the specifications requested from the Generalitat to incorporate, for example, the cost of living variable as recovered by Junts in its program.
The distribution of resources is carried out according to the population, but not as it appears in the register, but rather "adjusted" by a series of parameters such as the percentage of the elderly, young or immigrants and the volume of population dispersion. A community can receive an amount above what would correspond exclusively to the number of inhabitants. Or vice versa. In this way, it is achieved a priori to balance the distribution of resources according to the real needs. The criteria to make this distribution is what was tried to change a few months ago by the Ministry of Finance. Unsuccessfully.
After the allocation of resources, three funds are activated with a high degree of arbitrariness that seek that all communities earn something compared to the previous model, benefiting the poorest and also the richest.
Changing those rules would imply that there are winning and losing communities or some more winners than others. A model in which everyone wins equally is not possible. For this reason it is difficult for the modification of the system to be carried out due to the political cost that it would have in the losing communities or in those that earn less. Most likely, we will have to wait for the next campaign.
