Fitur is a suitable region for ‘networking’, an Anglo-Saxon concept of professional contacts made using areas of greater relaxation. President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, set out this Wednesday with the aim of strengthening their support network at the start of the Madrid tourism fair and held a short meeting with colleagues in Murcia, Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha. The meeting served, in the words of the Consell chairman, as a “plot” for the equalization fund, a tool that the four regional leaders demanded from the Government in response to the mistreatment they suffered from the funding system.
This is a relief mechanism that will be implemented until agreement is reached on the reform of the current distribution model, which has expired since 2014, and will allow these four regions to move closer to the average in terms of the resources they receive from the State. To maintain the essential services they provide, especially Health, Education and Equality. It must be included in the General State Budget. It is also included in the investment agreement between PSOE and Sumar.
Mazón confirmed that the “mini-summit” served to verify the alignment on funding among the four regional presidents. “We are very clear that the four communities are underfunded. Comunitat Valenciana is probably the worst,” he said. Mazón considered the equalization fund “essential and inalienable” because until global reform of the system is agreed upon, “we have to continue paying for our social services.” “We clearly demand this,” he assured.
A recent study by Fedea, in which the organization supports the need to activate this fund as an urgent measure while reform is being negotiated, confirmed that these four autonomous regions receive less money than the provincial average for these basic services. According to the calculations of the organization headed by Ángel de la Fuente, the State will need to contribute approximately 3.3 billion euros more in order for these regions to play on equal terms. Fedea advocates consolidating these funds once an agreement is reached on the new model.
Valencian Community will receive 1.148 million, Andalusia 1.409, Murcia 405 and Castile-La Mancha 315. In any case, these are not the calculations of the Generalitat, which recently re-engaged its commission of financing experts to update its demands. The data is not yet known, but according to Consell sources, the results are coming soon. One way or another, the person in charge of the Treasury is Ruth MerinoHe announced that the amount to be requested would be around 1.5 billion.
Sources in his ministry recall that, given the differences in some views 350 million The difference between the Fedea study and Consell’s estimate is that this report does not bring these four autonomies to the average, but leaves them at 97% of the resources, that is, slightly below the average. So the Generalitat may be more demanding than the specialized agency.
Page, the only socialist in the group, relied on exactly that report on Tuesday to defend the need for an equalization fund for those four regions, which he considers “proven” underfunded. He also claimed that before any reforms could be made to the system, the mistreatment these autonomies had accumulated in previous years should be compensated by reducing their autonomous obligations. On this point, Consell is a little more vague and does not prioritize pardons, but insists that the Valencian Community would have to be “first” if such an event were to occur.
According to El Mundo, the man from La Mancha would confirm that there was “complete agreement” with the three leaders of the PP to form a common front against inadequate financing, and they would all agree to “coordinate” to claim money from the state. There is talk of a “conspiracy” from the Generalitat Presidency.
Regional alliances
Sources close to the president say Mazón’s meeting with Juanma Moreno, Fernando López Miras and Emiliano García-Page was brief and informal due to Fitur’s context. In addition to laying out a common strategy for an interim compensation fund, the president established permanent contacts between the four governments to “develop” their demands.
As he explained, a “common working space” and “permanent dialogue” was agreed between Treasury advisers and economic teams. Pending summits on funding outlined by the four regional leaders have not yet been dated, but Consell’s chairman assured that these talks “will be clarified sooner or later, in a more or less formal meeting”.
At first Mazón was inclined to promote a joint event with the two popular parties in Murcia and Andalusia and the socialist party in La Mancha, but the Presidency points to the possibility of reformulating these meetings and turning them into bilateral meetings.