Government stops sending weekly expense reports to Madrid

The Catalan executive will no longer send the Spanish government a weekly report of its expenses. On Thursday, vice president and economy minister, Oriol Junqueras, sent a letter to his Spanish counterpart, Cristóbal Montoro, informing him that the referendum legislation passed by the Catalan parliament frees him from the obligation to supply the ministry with a weekly report of Catalan government expenses.

This week’s report, which would normally already be on its way to Madrid, was never sent. Yet, the Catalan authorities insist they are committed to working with the Spanish treasury on the issue of economic stability, and will continue to provide weekly reports on this matter.

Moreover, the letter sent by Junqueras expressed “the preference of the Catalan government for dialogue and the exercise of democracy as a way of resolving the debate on the political relations between Catalonia and Spain.”

The Catalan treasury minister also reminded Montoro that “so far, an agreement with the state government on holding a referendum on the political future of Catalonia had not been possible, despite the repeated proposals of the Catalan government and Parliament.” The letter goes on to add that the invitation to talks on the referendum remain open.  

In justifying the decision to refrain from providing further weekly financial reports on government expenses, the letter also points out that the Catalan executive already “regularly” reports to the Spanish treasury with “the information necessary to verify the fulfilment of the objectives for the deficit, debt and public spending.”