Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce denounces Spanish Government for not keeping to committed investments

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan Statute of Autonomy establishes a minimum investment that the Spanish Government must make in Catalonia in order to compensate a historical lack of investment. The Statute is a binding text both in a Catalan and a Spanish context, as it is a law approved by both the Catalan and Spanish Parliaments. The President of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Miquel Valls, stated that the Spanish Government is not honouring this minimum quantity, set at 18.6% of the amount for the whole of Spain. Valls denounced the Spanish Government’s will to invest 16.8% of this amount in 2011, which violates the current legislation and the political agreement to compensate a historical lack of investment. There are also some quantities of money that have been lost because of a lack of concrete projects. The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce has calculated the lack of investment for the 2007-2011 period, when the Catalan Statute minimum was already a binding commitment, at 1,925 million euros.

The President of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce judged the budget presented by the Spanish Government for 2011 as very poor. He said, “these numbers will not help to get out of the crisis, nor to create employment”. Valls also reminded that the body he chairs already criticised the budget for 2010.

According to Valls, the fiscal consolidation and public deficit reduction are a result of  a “historical cutting of investment”, which are similar to the levels in 1999. However, there is not a real contention of public expenditure. According to the Chamber’s study, of every 100 euros less to reduce public expenditure in the 2011 budget, 85 correspond to reducing investment.