The president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, has lashed out at the formula chosen by the central government to address the reform of the regional financing model through bilateral meetings, and has announced that Galicia will not attend these meetings: "What belongs to everyone should be discussed by everyone".
Rueda made these statements this Tuesday during the session "Spain, territory and leadership: The vision of the regional presidents", held at the 41st Cercle d'Economia Meeting at the Palau de Congressos de Cataluña, in Barcelona, where he shared the stage with the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the lehendakari, Imanol Pradales.
The Galician leader interpreted these meetings as a "divide and conquer" tactic by the Executive, and insisted on the need for a multilateral table, accusing the government of trying to confuse the autonomous communities to subsequently divert the focus of the debate.
He also stressed that Galicia is one of the communities most interested in modifying the financing system, a reform he described as urgent, but warned that it must be undertaken without any region being harmed compared to others, as otherwise, the "system could be broken".
Illa's stance on the Catalan proposal
For his part, Salvador Illa defended that the initiative of the Catalan socialists is based on the principle of solidarity and called on Rueda and the rest of the regional presidents to sit down and debate it: "The least we can do is sit down and discuss this specific proposal. If there are others, let's put them on the table".
In this regard, he maintained that the proposal "does not harm anyone" and highlighted the associated debt forgiveness, which he linked to deficient financing in the past.
Illa criticized that some presidents "invalidate the proposal because of its origin" and stressed that he does not seek advantages or privileges for Catalonia, but neither does he want the community to be left behind compared to the rest.
Defense of the Basque fiscal regime
Imanol Pradales, for his part, denounced the widespread ignorance that, in his opinion, exists about the Basque regime and the difference between the "concierto" and the "cupo", rejecting that the "concierto" system is unsupportive: "Talking about lack of solidarity with respect to the economic concert regime system is certainly not appropriate, nor does it align with reality itself".
He has detailed that the regime is based on the principle of unilateral risk, which he understands as a framework of freedom with its own responsibility, given that the Basque territories can set their fiscal and financial regime and manage tax collection, assuming that unilateral risk in return.
Furthermore, he recalled that the calculation of the quota is based on an agreement reached in 1981, which set a contribution of 6.24% to the State's burdens, despite the fact that the Basque population accounts for 4.6% of the total state population: "The weight of the Basque economy in the State barely reaches 6%, and, in an unalterable way, for 45 years we have been bearing that 6.24%, and we have never discussed it either."