The call from the Community of Madrid to boycott the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy (CPFF) has failed. The Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso will not participate in the meeting convened this Friday by the Treasury, but none of the other autonomous communities governed by the Popular Party have supported the boycott.
The Madrid Executive intended for the joint absence of the popular territories to prevent reaching the necessary quorum to constitute the Council and, in this way, block the voting of the new model of autonomous financing. However, the other PP communities have opted to attend the meeting, defend their positions, and vote against the proposal.
The decision leaves Madrid alone in a strategy that has not received the backing of the national leadership of the PP nor from its main regional presidents, despite the widespread rejection that the model proposed by the Government generates.
Madrid needed a massive boycott from the PP
The internal regulations of the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy establish that for the valid constitution of the body, the attendance of at least half of its members is necessary. Therefore, the exclusive absence of Madrid does not prevent the meeting from being held nor the proposal from being put to a vote.
Ayuso's initiative would only have prospered if the majority of the communities governed by the PP had agreed to leave their seats empty. Madrid argued that this was "the only way" to prevent the agreement from materializing in the Council and maintained that the new system represents a "break in the equality of all Spaniards."
However, regional governments such as those of Andalusia, Valencia Community, Murcia, Extremadura, Balearic Islands, or La Rioja maintain their intention to attend. Some communities also acknowledged that the Madrid announcement had surprised them.
The PP communities prefer to vote against
The lack of support for the boycott does not imply that the popular communities support the Treasury's proposal. On the contrary, the majority has announced their vote against because they believe that the model was negotiated beforehand with Catalonia and does not respond to a multilateral agreement among all territories.
The difference is strategic. The regional governments of the PP prefer to attend the Council, present their calculations, and formally record their rejection. Their presence will also allow them to show that the model comes from the CPFF despite having the opposition of the majority of the communities.
Being absent would also mean renouncing to participate in a debate that directly affects the distribution of the resources with which healthcare, education, and social services are financed. The Government's proposal includes providing an additional 20.975 billion euros to the system in 2027.
Génova does not turn Ayuso's initiative into a national strategy
The Madrid government assured that it had communicated its position to the national leadership of the PP and that the approach had been addressed with the regional leaders of the party. However, Génova did not adopt the boycott as a common strategy nor did it ask its regions to stop attending.
The refusal of the other territories again highlights the differences between Ayuso and other popular barons on how to exercise institutional opposition to the Government. While Madrid opts for the boycott, the other autonomous communities seek to combat the model from within the body.
This lack of unity is compounded by the position of Canarias, governed by Coalición Canaria in alliance with the PP. The Canary Executive supports the new system after achieving several technical modifications during the negotiation with the Treasury.
The Treasury has secured the vote, but not Congress
The presence of the communities guarantees that the Council can be constituted. Furthermore, the voting system of the CPFF allows the Government to push its proposal forward with the support of at least one autonomous community, due to the weighting of the votes. The Treasury initially has the support of Catalonia and Canarias.
After the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy, the reform must go through the Council of Ministers and become a legislative project. Its definitive viability will depend on the Congress of Deputies, where the Government will have to gather a parliamentary majority that is still not guaranteed.
Ayuso has managed to elevate the political confrontation around the new model, but has not dragged the rest of the PP into an institutional blockade of the Treasury.