Spanish PM and Catalan president vow to 'complete' pending agreements at Barcelona meeting

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez and sitting Catalan president Pere Aragonès met on Wednesday at the Catalan government headquarters in Barcelona as part of post-election talks following the May Catalan election. 

The two leaders agreed to "complete the fulfillment" of the pending agreements they reached when pro-independence Esquerra backed Pedro Sánchez's bid to become Spanish PM, both governments said in a joint text after the meeting. 

The meeting took place in the midst of Catalan post-election talks, with the Socialists needing Esquerra's support to make their candidate and election winner, Salvador Illa, the next Catalan president. 

Despite Sánchez's efforts to persuade Aragonès to push for his party's support for Illa's candidacy, Esquerra has a clear demand: Catalonia's single financing, a fiscal system in which Catalonia controls all its taxes, similar to the current system in the Basque Country.

During the hour-long meeting, Aragonès stressed this demand and urged Sánchez to "make a move" with the single financing, according to sources close to the president. 

The deadline for appointing a new Catalan president is August 26, and if no agreement is reached by then, Catalans will be called back to the polls in October.

Minimum basic income

The meeting, which was announced less than 24 hours in advance, was to discuss and sign the transfer of the minimum basic income from the Spanish to Catalan authorities. 

The minimum basic income is a Spanish social security subsidy that provides a monthly income to those in vulnerable situations, to ensure "social and labor inclusion" for those who benefit from financial aid.

According to Spain's social security statistics, in 2023, around 735,562 households, or 2,157,712 people, benefited from the income.

Now, with this agreement, the management of the subsidy is in the hands of the Catalan government. 

After the meeting between Sánchez and Aragonès, the Spanish minister of inclusion, social security and migration, Elma Saiz, and the acting Catalan minister for social rights, Carles Campuzano, signed the deal. 

Minister Saiz said that the agreement had been worked on for a long time, as it involved a complex legal adaptation so as not to conflict with other subsidies. 

She said that the transfer of the subsidy, which currently benefits some 200,000 people in Catalonia, will benefit the most vulnerable by reducing bureaucracy. 

The Basque Country and Navarre had already transferred the control of the minimum basic income in 2022, and now Catalonia applied the same model.  

The minister has not given details of the outcome of the meeting between Sánchez and Aragonès, but said the Spanish government will always work with the Catalan government with "normality, cordiality, respect for diversity, language and culture."

Acting Catalan minister for social rights Carles Campuzano celebrated the transfer, which he branded a "longstanding demand" of the Catalan government.   

"Our ambition is to manage the entire social security system. This is a new step towards that goal," he said.

Campuzano said the current model "generated problems" because there were different subsidies given by different administrations.   

"Taking over the subsidy is a challenge. We are working for when the time comes to make an effective management of it," he added.   

Regarding the outcome of the Sánchez-Aragonès meeting, Campuzano said that it was an "institutional meeting" and urged not to mix it with "talks at the party level".