The Government is putting pressure on the PP to support a debt reduction that for now does not have a majority in Congress

A new front opened in the majority due to the eternal tension between Junts and ERC, the two rivals of the independence movement. The Government has agreed with ERC to forgive 17 billion euros of the debt of the Generalitat of Catalonia with the FLA, which it also extends to all the other autonomous regions, to cover 83 billion euros of autonomous debt, and was confident that this would further support the legislature. But Junts, due to its rivalry with ERC, points out that it does not like the forgiveness because it is for all the autonomous regions, and not just for Catalonia, and threatens to reject in Congress the law that will endorse this forgiveness of the autonomous debt, which would be taken care of by the State. If Junts were to maintain this position, something that will have to be seen in the coming weeks, the Government would need the support of the PP, which for the moment insists on rejecting the law even though it would greatly benefit autonomous regions such as Andalusia or the Valencian Community, governed by this party.

Once again, a moment similar to that of the omnibus decree , which contained the increase in pensions, is taking place: the Government tried to put pressure on the PP in the event that Junts could reject the text. In the end, both the independentists and the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo voted against it and the initiative fell, although after a negotiation with the independentists the Government was able to recover it and then, when its vote was no longer decisive and could no longer cause a defeat for the Executive, the PP also voted in favour.

The Government has set in motion this Tuesday the machinery to put public pressure on the PP to see if public opinion in the autonomous regions governed by this party understands that the Executive's proposal is positive and thus makes the Popular Party change the idea that Feijóo has been conveying at all times, that is, that the entire PP will vote as a block this Wednesday in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, in which its position is not decisive because the Government has a majority, but also in Congress when the law that will support the reduction is passed, and there the 137 seats of the PP could be very relevant.

Both the spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, also a PSOE candidate in Aragón, and the Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, a Socialist candidate in Madrid, have tried to pressure the PP with the idea that it makes no sense to reject something that means writing off debt and, therefore, saving interest and being able to dedicate it to public services, at a time when the autonomous communities are demanding better financing and claiming that they are having difficulties. “The PP has to clarify whether it is for forgiving or condemning, whether it wants to forgive or condemn all the citizens of its autonomous communities by not accepting an initiative that could improve their economic situation,” said Alegría. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of Madrid, has said that this system would harm Madrid, because it would receive 8,000 million in forgiveness while Catalonia would have 17,000 or Andalusia 18,000, because they are more indebted. “I would love for them to harm me by taking away my mortgage,” López has ironically said. “If harming Madrid means forgiving 8 billion euros of debt, please let them harm me every day. Madrid has received 109 billion euros from the State since 2018, 30 billion euros more than with Rajoy. And now they are offering it 8 billion euros more,” López concluded. Alegría also recalled some words from the Andalusian Minister of Finance, Carolina España, who in November 2023 said that her community should have 17 billion euros forgiven, and she agreed, but this Monday, when she saw that the offer was even higher, 18 billion euros, she said “we reject Montero’s trap offer because it is a tailor-made suit for Catalonia.” Alegría believes that the PP is opting for a political position to defend the interests of Feijóo’s opposition strategy, but she trusts that little by little social pressure will make the PP barons change. The problem for the Government is that the regional presidents would indeed have a lot of difficulties in not requesting the money when everything is approved, but politically it is not so complicated for the PP to vote against it now in Congress with the excuse that this is a measure negotiated with Catalonia. The Government will deploy all possible pressure on the PP, but above all it will try to work with Junts so that it does not reject a law that clearly benefits Catalonia even though it was negotiated with ERC and not with Puigdemont's group.

Junts was very critical of the agreement with ERC, which was announced by the president of the Republican group, Oriol Junqueras. “A coffee for everyone is not Junts’ option,” said Mònica Sales, spokesperson for JxCat in the Parliament on Tuesday. Sales claimed that the party chaired by Carles Puigdemont had already made its own proposal on the Catalan debt with the FLA: “Total forgiveness,” she said, and she estimated it at an impact of 73 billion euros. Sales avoided revealing what meaning Junts will give to its vote in the Congress of Deputies when the time comes to validate the law with the partial reduction to which the Government has committed, but she has advanced that the party is very wary of the matter: “Experience shows us that it could be a new scam, that they want to pull the wool over our eyes.”

This is not a peaceful issue within Sumar, the Government's minority partner. In a difficult attempt to reconcile the positions within the parliamentary group - with regional parties defending different positions - the spokesperson Verónica Barbero has assessed the agreement for the reduction of the debt of the communities agreed between the Government and ERC as "positive but insufficient".

“There are two issues that concern us,” he said. “It cannot be that the communities use a debt write-off to continue putting money in the hands of the rich, it has to be used to favour the welfare state. And then, it is a good measure but insufficient [in terms of the amount]. There are certain communities that have such a large debt that this write-off will not allow them to go to the markets,” he said about cases such as that of the Valencian Community, where the write-off represents only 18.8% of the more than 59,000 million in total.

The spokesperson for Compromís, Àgueda Micó, had already announced on Monday that they would not support this pact and the deputy of Chunta Aragonesista, Jorge Pueyo, was also critical because his party is demanding a much larger amount. The Comunes, however, give their support. Barbero has advocated the reform of the autonomous financing system, so that it stops being “especially pernicious” with autonomous regions such as Valencia or the Region of Murcia. For his part, the deputy of Chunta Aragonesista (CHA) in Congress, Jorge Pueyo, considers that the proposal of the Treasury for the State to forgive up to 2,124 million euros of the autonomous debt of Aragon is insufficient but a “starting point”. Pueyo has demanded the president of his community, the popular Jorge Azcón, to go “further” and not act as a “puppet” of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. “Ayuso cannot continue to decide Aragon's vote in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council. Azcón must negotiate, defend the interests of Aragon and go much further,” she said, in this case joining the strategy of putting pressure on the Popular Party.