Catalonia will take before the court Spain's imposed measures on receiving funding
Catalonia will be the only Autonomous Community in Spain whose part of the Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) will be subject to extra control measures. "It is arbitrary discrimination" against Catalan citizens and the Government's suppliers, stated current Catalan Finance Minister Andreu Mas-Colell this Tuesday and announced that the Government will take the measures before the Spanish Supreme Court. Spanish Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro justified the imposition of "specific and additional controls" to guarantee "transparency" and ensure that “the FLA won’t fund pro-independence whims”. Mas-Colell accused Spain's executive of trying to take political advantage of an "ordinary procedure between administrations" and urged the Spanish government to pay the pending 3,034 million euros from the FLA before the end of the year.
Barcelona (CNA).- The extra control measures that Spain's executive imposed on Catalonia’s access to its part of the Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) will be taken before the court. "It is arbitrary discrimination" against Catalan citizens and the Government's suppliers, stated current Catalan Finance Minister Andreu Mas-Colell this Tuesday and announced that the Government will take the measures before the Spanish Supreme Court. The imposition of "specific and additional controls" due to "Catalonia's singularity" was presented by Spanish Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro as a way to guarantee "transparency" and ensure that “the FLA won’t fund pro-independence whims”. Mas-Colell accused Spain's executive of trying to take political advantage of an "ordinary procedure between administrations" and urged the Spanish government to pay the pending 3,034 million euros from the FLA before the end of the year.
The current Catalan Finance Minister clarified that "social expenses come first" in the Government's payment criteria and noted that the last FLA remittance went entirely toward paying the pharmacist suppliers. "All our payments are legal and destined for social expenses, but if the FLA doesn't arrive, somebody will be left out" he warned.
Mas-Colell announced that this week he will send to the Spanish Tax Office all the pending invoices to be paid with the FLA from 2015, which are worth 2,715 million euros. "We will finish 2015 with a delay similar to that of 2014" lamented Mas-Colell and added that this situation far from being "ideal" is "unfair to all the Catalan citizens and the Government's suppliers". "Are Catalans second-class citizens because of what we voted?" he rhetorically asked. "Smile but pay" stated Mas-Colell addressing the Spanish government's representatives. "Your attitude reinforces the idea that many Catalans have that only by making our own decisions could we be a country with European standards" he added.
Mas-Colell urged Spain to pay before the end of the year
The current Catalan Finance Minister assured that the Government fulfils its duties before the Spanish government by presenting all the requested invoices and meeting all the requirements while the Spanish Tax Office hasn't yet paid out any of the additional resources from the FLA. Mas-Colell also expressed his "worries" regarding the special control measures imposed on Catalonia in order to receive the 3,034 million euros and urged the government to pay it "within 2015, before the 31st of December preferably" and without "discrimination in comparison to the other Autonomous Communities nor inequalities of any kind".
"If the suppliers are not paid before the end of the year there will be no doubt over who are responsible and to whom the doubts of defaulting will be addressed" he warned "please do not nurture these doubts but deny them by paying immediately". He emphasised that Spain gets taxes from the Catalan citizens and therefore it is time for the Spanish government "to pay and do it now".