The Generalitat of Catalonia raises to 22,000 million the economic request to accept the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. They are 2,000 million more than the figure mentioned by former president Carles Puigdemont on the 6th after his meeting with the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz.
The new figure was presented on Monday by the Minister of Economy, Natalia Mas Guix, as the latest official estimate of the so-called fiscal deficit, which is the supposed difference between what Catalonia contributes to the State and what it receives.
According to a statement from the Generalitat, "the fiscal deficit of Catalonia with the State climbed to 20,772 million in 2020 and to 21,982 million in 2021, a new historical maximum. These figures are equivalent to 9.8% and 9.6% of Catalan GDP, respectively."
Both Esquerra Republicana, which is the party of the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, and Junts agree that one of the prices of the investiture, in addition to amnesty, is "to end the fiscal deficit".
The head of Finance has assured that she makes her estimate with "own data", because the central government has not published for years the so-called fiscal balances, but maintains that the resulting figure "is scandalous".
At the same time, he has called for a "bilateral" financing model like the one that the Basque Country has, which would imply a special status and take Catalonia out of the so-called common regime of Spain's financing system, with the consequent reduction of resources for the common fund. However, this bilateral model, in line with the so-called Fiscal Pact that originated the procès, would be a transitional solution until independence is achieved, according to the analysis of the Generalitat.
The Minister of Finance and negotiator of the investiture, María Jesús Montero, has assured so far that the reform of the financing model will be a priority if they achieve the investiture and has not ruled out meeting the requests for fiscal deficit and debt forgiveness.
The fiscal deficit estimated by the Generalitat for 2020 and 2021 is the result of Catalonia contributing 19.3% and 19.2% of State revenues, respectively, and receiving instead 13.7% and 13.6% of total expenditure, according to the Generalitat.
For Natalia Mas, it is "a sustained, unfair and deliberate financial suffocation" by the State.
"The fiscal deficit represents 50% of the accounts of the Generalitat for this year and represents resources comparable to the budget of the departments of Health, Education and Social Rights together," the statement said. "In per capita terms, in addition, it represents almost 3,000 euros of loss of resources for each citizen," Mas has come to say.