budget

PDeCAT leader David Bonvehí demands “political solutions" from the Spanish government

ERC MP Joan Tardà urges Pedro Sánchez to intervene in favor of jailed Catalan leaders

Catalan president to hold conference on September 4 to "regain initiative"

Trial to jailed and exiled pro-independence leaders is sure to shape year ahead

In an exclusive interview, Quim Torra says he is confident CUP will back the bill

Party considered withdrawing support from Rajoy’s government

Central government’s 17% increase to €1.34bn still below Catalan contribution to Spanish GDP

Madrid argues that the measures don't only affect Catalonia, while Catalan administration stresses that Spain’s arguments “make no sense”

Madrid will extend the Catalan budget in the council of ministers that will be held today

Spain’s budget for 2017 allocates €1.14 billion to invest in Catalonia, €30 million less than last year. However, as a percentage, the figure represents 13.4% of the total, which is higher than in 2016, which saw only 10.7% investment for Catalonia. The allocation is still below Catalonia’s contribution to Spain's GDP, which is 19%. Although most of the investment is oriented toward infrastructures, the figures are a far cry from the major investment that Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, announced last week for Catalonia. Indeed, he said that €4.2 billion will arrive in Catalonia by 2020. Spain's Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro, admitted that the budget doesn’t include the promised measures and assured that the investment “will move forward in 2018”.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) accepted this Tuesday the suit presented by the Spanish Government which claimed that those line items in the 2017 Catalan budget oriented toward calling a referendum this September were illegal. The magistrates, which met in an extraordinary session to address only this matter, unanimously agreed to suspend these budget items for a period of 5 months, which could be extended if necessary. Rajoy’s Executive also wants Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, and the other members of the Catalan Government to be personally notified of the suspension as well as the penal consequences of ignoring it. In particular, the TC suspended two line items: one establishes €5 million for electoral processes and €0.8 million for participation and the other refers to the possibility of calling a referendum with or without the Spanish State's permission.

The Catalan budget for 2017, which includes an allocation of €5.8 million to carry out the referendum on independence which the Government committed to call next September, has been taken before the court. The Parliament’s legal services already warned on the day the bill was passed that by doing so the chamber could be ignoring the TC. Indeed, the Spanish body called to impede or block any initiative emerged from the pro-independence declaration of the 9-N, which was already suspended.  The pro-independence parties in the Parliament, governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP backed the bill, which besides considering the referendum, it allocates €17.8 billion to social expenditure. The main parties in the opposition, Spanish Unionist Ciutadans, Catalan People’s Party (PP) and Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) announced this Friday that they will join the Spanish Government’s initiative and present an appeal to the bill.

The pro-independence parties in the Catalan Chamber, governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP have passed the 2017 budget. The bill has been described as the last budget of the autonomic period, since it foresees calling a referendum on independence next September. Last June, CUP refused to pass the bill for 2016 which led to the vote of confidence promoted by Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont. They considered the numbers presented then to be “too autonomic” rather than responding to the pro-independence aspirations of Catalonia. After a new draft was presented last November, increasing the social expenditure and reinforcing the government’s commitment to call a referendum, CUP have accepted the bill. However, they have urged the Catalan Government to announce the date and the question of the referendum as quick as possible.

The Council for Statutory Guarantees, the body responsible for checking whether the Catalan Government’s regulations comply with the Catalan Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution, approved the additional allocation included in the budget for 2017 in order to call a referendum on independence in September. In particular, the bill establishes €5 million for electoral processes and €0.8 million for participation. However, it has found unconstitutional the 31^st additional provision of the draft, which establishes that the Government has to allocate the spending to carry out the vote. Despite being unanimous, the resolution of the Council for Statutory Guarantees is not binding, since it is an advisory body. However it has already postponed the passing of the bill, which was due to be put to vote last February.

Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) will take the budget bill for 2017, which was due to be put to vote this February, to the Council for Statutory Guarantees. The function of the body is to check whether the regulations of the Catalan Government comply with the Catalan Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution. The spokesperson of ‘Ciutadans’ and PSC in the Parliament considers the items allocated for calling “a new 9-N” to be against both the Catalan Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution. Moreover, they noted that other budget lines are “unclear” and may be “hidden” in order to ultimately hold the referendum in September 2017, as the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, has repeatedly announced.