The Government has defended this Tuesday in Congress the royal decree-law approved by the Council of Ministers in June so that non-deductible taxes of RTVE are counted as a public service cost, while PP, Vox and Junts have rejected it for being a "botch job" and an "authentic exercise in shamelessness".
The Plenary of Congress will submit the validation of the norm to a vote this afternoon, which was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on June 17 and which, like any royal decree-law, must be ratified by the Lower House within a maximum period of 30 days.
The Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, was in charge of presenting the text to the hemicycle, defending that the initiative "responds to a concrete, immediate and perfectly identifiable need". As he explained, its purpose is "to guarantee the financial stability of an institution to which our legal system entrusts the provision of an essential public service for our country".
España stressed that "the State has the obligation to provide sufficient financing that allows the adequate fulfillment of this faculty" and described the measure as an act of "financial logic and institutional coherence".
The Government denies privileges for RTVE
"We are not approving any privilege or any exceptional financing mechanism. We are guaranteeing that RTVE neither gains nor loses assets due to the existence of non-deductible taxes linked to the provision of public service," remarked the minister, who asked for the Chamber's support to validate the decree.
On behalf of the PP, deputy Macarena Montesinos maintained that the royal decree constitutes "an authentic confession of guilt by the Government", accusing RTVE and SEPI of having "spent seven years approving accounts that include a falsified balance sheet, a fictitious asset and conceal a real liability". "It is an authentic botch job. It is because it neither solves the current falsity of the balance sheet nor resolves the entity's financial situation in the future," she stressed.
The socialist Vicent Manuel Sarrià replied that it is not about "rescuing" the Corporation or "covering up insolvencies or management losses". "It is only intended to compensate RTVE for the costs it may have to assume due to non-deductible taxes borne," he pointed out.
From Vox, the deputy Carina Mejías has described the decree as the "umpteenth exercise in shamelessness" by the Executive, assuring that it "is not born to guarantee public service," but rather to "hide a hole of 941 million euros, prevent RTVE from entering into dissolution, maintain a gigantic government propaganda apparatus, and transfer that bill to the pockets of all Spaniards."
From Sumar, Francisco Sierra has admitted that the initiative "does not solve the financing problem of public media, but it preserves the system to guarantee its continuity from possible adverse economic consequences due to a tax controversy."
The Junts deputy, Josep María Cruset, has demanded that Catalan public media receive "the same protection" as RTVE. "Junts' votes will not add up for the approval of this royal decree that leaves Cataluña Radio and TV3 unprotected," he has warned.
In contrast, the ERC deputy Álvaro Vidal has announced a favorable vote, although conditioned on "clear demands" for "rigorous" parliamentary control, "maximum transparency" in accounts, and "guarantee that the allocated resources are effectively destined to preserve public service, informational quality, and the labor rights of the magnificent staff."
The BNG representative, Néstor Rego Candamil, has argued that RTVE must reflect "the plurinational, pluricultural, and multilingual reality of the Spanish State."
The UPN deputy, Alberto Catalán, has lamented that "it is a sad reality that programs on Spanish public television have become sectarian broadcasts, fundamentally, at the behest of government leaders and also their partners."
The Compromís deputy, integrated into the Mixed Group, Águeda Micó, has confirmed her support for the decree because her party is committed to public media, and has emphasized that "in the full era of disinformation" and 'fake news,' having "strong, independent, and well-financed" media is a democratic necessity."
Risk of dissolution and urgent legal change
In the Memory of the regulatory impact analysis, to which Europa Press had access, it is explained that the reform of Law 17/2006, of June 5, on state-owned radio and television seeks to "urgently alleviate the economic consequences generated by financial uncertainty due to new judicial pronouncements on the financial sustainability of this essential public service". "There is no other alternative," the document states.
The report details that RTVE's net worth as of December 31, 2025, without considering provisions for VAT tax contingencies, amounts to 823 million euros. "The recording of a provision, as a consequence of a change in the risk assessment of said contingencies by its auditors, would imply that its net worth would be reduced by 941 million euros and show a negative amount of 118 million euros, and therefore, enter into grounds for dissolution," it warns.
If the measure that expressly qualifies these amounts as part of the net cost of public service compensation were not approved, "the need to replenish it patrimonially would proceed." "This replenishment could range between 300 million euros, with a very significant reduction in its share capital, or 900 million euros, if the option to maintain the current one is chosen," the memory adds.
The Government maintains that the regulatory modification allows for the preservation of the current value of RTVE's net worth by "neutralizing the impact of the eventual cost of non-deductible taxes without it being necessary to register any provision, with the amount of 823 million euros being valid as a true picture of its assets, and consequently, it would not enter into grounds for dissolution, and therefore, the aforementioned patrimonial replenishment would no longer be necessary."
According to the document, the economic impact of the royal decree-law on the 2025 accounts amounts to 941 million euros, although "it does not involve any disbursement as long as an unfavorable sentence does not occur" and "it avoids the disbursement of patrimonial replenishment since RTVE would not enter into grounds for dissolution."
Judicial uncertainty and the need for legal certainty
The memory recalls that several appeals before the courts regarding the deductibility of certain tax amounts borne by RTVE remain pending resolution, "a recent ruling has been issued which, although not referring to the Corporation, generates an uncertainty incompatible with the legal certainty and stability necessary for a public service like this".
"It is necessary and urgent" --states the text-- to introduce a legal provision that allows RTVE to reflect "in its financial statements the right to receive from the State, as part of the compensation for the provision of the public service, the amount of non-deductible taxes borne, thus enabling its proper reflection in the annual accounts to be approved in the first half of 2026 and guaranteeing the preservation of its equity balance".
"If this measure is not urgently adopted, it would cause serious harm to the public service entrusted to the corporation," concludes the Executive in the impact assessment, signed by the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños.