The 'president' of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, has announced that the Valencian Community is willing to sit down to negotiate the new financing system proposed by the Government of Spain, although he has insisted that this dialogue must take place within the framework of the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy (CPFF), where it can be discussed "all together at a table" and with "transparency".
The head of the Consell made these statements at the Palau de la Generalitat, after a meeting of about an hour with the Minister of Finance, Arcadi España. In this meeting, the minister informed him that the Government's Delegated Commission for Economic Affairs (CDGAE) will approve 4,000 million euros for the Valencian Community this afternoon: 1,904 million euros from the ExtraFLA and another 2,126 million euros from the ordinary FLA corresponding to the third quarter, according to sources from the Ministry of Finance.
At the end of the meeting, Llorca praised the minister's "dialogue-oriented tone" and explained that he had "clearly" conveyed to him that the Community is "open to negotiating a new financing model," but reiterated that this negotiation must take place in the CPFF. "To be more specific and for everyone to understand: yes to negotiating a financing model if the CPFF is convened now. There, the Community will go with the voice of all Valencians to demand a financing system that is fair, equitable, and equal for all Spaniards," he stated.
In that body, he pointed out, each autonomous community "will have to request what it deems appropriate," but, jointly, both the autonomies and the central government will be able to "reach an agreement that satisfies everyone's needs, but that guarantees equality among all." "I believe we have to establish that negotiation channel, but all together at a table because it is the only way to solve it," defended the 'president' of the Generalitat.
Regarding the 3.7 billion that the Government claims the new model would contribute to the Comunitat, Llorca has questioned the minister "how it is guaranteed that that money is there" and in which organic law it would be recorded. "It has to be based on a law and that money must not be just a declaration of intent, but a reality that will be put on the table," he stressed, while stating that Spain has clarified to him that "there is neither an organic law prepared nor does it have budgets where that amount is reflected." "It is not about giving up anything, but rather that there must first be guarantees," he underlined.
Likewise, Llorca has explained that he has requested Spain to implement the transitional equalization fund. As he recounted, the head of the Treasury responded "no to the fund because he considers that we are already in a negotiation phase for the new financing model." The 'president' has considered this stance "a bit incongruous" because, he recalled, "to this day, the Fiscal Policy Council has not even been convened, there is not even a draft organic law regulating the new financing model, and there is no budgetary allocation either."
((To be continued))