The Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso snubs the Ministry of Finance and will not participate in this Friday’s vote on the new financing model agreed upon by Pedro Sánchez with the leader of Esquerra, Oriol Junqueras.
Official sources say that the Madrid Finance Minister, Rocío Albert, will not attend this Friday’s meeting of the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) convened by the Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, to approve the new financing model that replaces the one in force since 2009.
“This is a financing system that breaks the equality of all Spaniards and aims to whitewash the debt generated by the corrupt management of the separatist governments and which has been continued and intensified by the current socialist president, Salvador Illa”, they say in the Community of Madrid.
Albert has asked the other PP finance ministers not to attend either to prevent a quorum, but so far, she is the only one to confirm her boycott. “The only way for this agreement not to be materialized tomorrow at the CPFF is that there is no quorum at the meeting. The absence of all the PP-governed autonomous communities would mean the halt of this breach of equality of all Spaniards and the whitewashing of the economic and political corruption of the managers of the Generalitat of Catalonia in recent decades.”
“The Community of Madrid has conveyed its position during these days to the national leadership of the party,” these sources add.
Other communities governed by the PP have so far defended attending the meeting and requesting the withdrawal of the proposed model change. And, if it is not withdrawn, as seems certain, to vote against it. The Murcia official, Marisa López Aragón, has written to the Minister of Finance urging the start of “a real negotiation” without imposing the pact with Junqueras. The Castilla y León minister, Carlos Fernández Carriedo, has also requested the withdrawal of the proposal from the CPFF agenda.
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However, according to the Madrid regional government, voting against does not stop the new system, because Arcadi España only needs the support of Catalonia to push it through. For now, he has guaranteed the vote in favor of the Catalan Generalitat and also the Canary Islands Government, after having agreed with its president of Coalición Canaria, Fernando Clavijo, an additional annual contribution of 600 million euros.
Meanwhile, the socialist governments of Asturias and Castilla-La Mancha have also announced their vote against and have asked the central government to withdraw it. Although it is approved at the CPFF, it is unlikely to succeed in the decisive vote in Parliament later, due to Junts’ rejection so far.
As for the Ministry of Finance, official sources say they “regret that the Community of Madrid has announced it will not attend tomorrow’s Fiscal and Financial Policy Council and consider the call to boycott the meeting irresponsible.” “Institutional hooliganism will not prevent the Government from continuing to extend a hand to all territories and parliamentary groups to carry out a reform of regional financing essential to guarantee more resources for health, education, social services, or housing,” they maintain.
The Ministry has not yet responded to the calculations of the socialist government of Castilla-La Mancha that expose the new model by increasing the number of most disadvantaged communities among the underfunded.
