The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, acknowledged this Saturday that the positions between her department and Esquerra Republicana de Cataluña (ERC) regarding the collection of personal income tax by the Generalitat are “absolutely at odds”, which, for the moment, prevents progress towards an agreement.
Montero has spoken in these terms during an appearance before the media in Algeciras (Cádiz) after meeting with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce of Campo de Gibraltar, where she was asked about the political situation in Catalonia ahead of the full debate on the Generalitat's Budget project scheduled for next March 20.
ERC conditions its support on the collection of Personal Income Tax
The minister has recalled that ERC has registered an amendment to the entirety of the budget project driven by the Catalan Government presided over by Salvador Illa, and that its support for the accounts remains conditioned on the Generalitat assuming the collection of the IRPF.
In this context, Montero has admitted that a “disagreement” already occurred with the republican formation on this issue and has reiterated that the positions of both parties remain very distant.
Despite this, the vice president has appealed to the responsibility of the parties that have presented total amendments so that they reflect on the need for Catalonia to have new budgets, a need that, in her opinion, is also shared by the rest of the public administrations.
Call for dialogue despite the blockade
During her speech, Montero has defended that the central Government has advanced in different measures aimed at strengthening the financing of the autonomous communities, citing among them the partial write-off of autonomous debt proposed by the Executive and the work to define a new model of territorial financing.
The minister has asked that these advances be put into value, although she has recognized that the discrepancy over the IRPF keeps any possibility of agreement with ERC blocked.
“The positions are absolutely opposed and there is an inability to be able to advance,” he admitted, although he has stressed that the Government will continue betting on dialogue as a way to find common ground.
Ahead of next week's parliamentary debate in the Parliament, Montero has insisted that the priority must be to ensure that Catalonia has new budgets, at a time when, as she has pointed out, many administrations need to update their public accounts to face current economic and social challenges.