2026 budget: spending plan of €49 billion, increase of €9bn on previous budget passed in 2023

Catalonia's new budget plan maintains public spending at €49.162 billion, and include €893 million through additional provisions to comply with deals reached with ERC and the Comuns.

Economy minister Alícia Romero delivered the draft budget bill to the parliament speaker, Josep Rull, on Friday, highlighting the "ambition" of the spending plan.

The amount earmarked to finance the commitments agreed with Comuns and ERC until 2030 at €4.6 billion.

The near-€50 billion exceeds the last budget plan, approved in 2023, by more than €9 billion.

The bill includes an "increase in resources" in public policies of health, education, and social rights, according to the minister.

The fiscal project foresees €4.146 billion in public sector investments, financed through current savings of €2.475 million. If the total public sector is included, the expenditure increases to €54.747 billion, 24% more than the 2023 spending plan.

The department of health will be allocated the most resources, with €13.84 billion, followed by education with €8.356 billion and social rights €4.248 billion.

Parliamentary process

After delivering the draft budget to speaker Rull, Romero will now meet with the parliamentary groups and the members of the Economy and Finance Committee.

When the bill is submitted to the chamber, it's expected that it will be voted on during the plenary session from June 30 to July 2, provided that no group forces an opinion from the Council of Statutory Guarantees, which could delay the final vote by around a month.

Thus, once the budgets are accepted by the Parliament Bureau, ministers will appear in committee to explain the numbers of their departments between Tuesday and Friday of next week.

Parties also have ten days to present complete amendments, which will make the vote on this first possible veto in plenary from June 2 to 4.