spanish government

The Spanish Government decided that five members will be appointed by Catalan administrations and the business community, and four others will be nominated by the Spanish Airport Authority (AENA). However, decisions will be taken with a two third majority. It will decide on airport taxes, routes and other strategic aspects. 29.5 million passengers passed through Barcelona El Prat Airport in the first ten months of 2011, a figure already higher than that registered for all of 2010.

September has been a bad month for employment over the last number of years, but this past September is the worst in the last 11 years. The Spanish Government has blamed the budget cuts undergone by the Autonomous Communities for the unemployment increase. The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government considers Madrid’s statements as “offensive” and “pitiful”, and he stressed that the Spanish Government had asked them to double their public spending cuts. He also added that the Spanish Government has not paid the money that it owes.

The Spanish Constitutional Court has accepted to make a decision on the Spanish Government’s appeal against the Catalan law promoting the Occitan language in the Val d’Aran County, in the Pyrenees. The Val d’Aran has autonomy status within Catalonia, considering its historic links with the Occitan culture. It is the only place where Occitan has the status of preferred co-official language. Now, this status has been cancelled because of the Spanish Government’s appeal. The Catalan Minister for Culture considers the appeal “an attack against language diversity”.

Catalan President Artur Mas will give full support to the next Spanish government if it accepts a new fiscal arrangement for Catalonia. Mas says his party, the centre-right nationalist Convergència i Unió, is the only political force able to become a counter-power to the Spanish conservatives, the most likely winners of the next general election

PM Zapatero today proposed an expenditure limit for the Autonomous Communities before the Spanish Parliament . The Spokesperson for the Catalan Executive considers it an attack to self-governance and fiscal autonomy. In addition, he stressed that the Catalan Government is the only administration in Spain, at all levels, that has cut its expenditure by 10% in one year. He also asked the Spanish Government to make its own adjustments and pay what it legally owes to the Communities, and to Catalonia in particular.

The International Monetary Fund wants the Spanish Government to “strengthen” the labour market reform, not give up on spending cuts and restructure the financial system. The same day, the Bank of Spain's Governor, Miguel Angel Fernández Ordóñez asked the Spanish Minister for Economy to be “stricter” on the Autonomous Community government’s deficit reduction. The Catalan Minister for Finance said on several occasions that Catalonia would meet the deficit objective for 2011 if the Spanish Government showed some institutional loyalty and paid the money it legally owes to Catalonia.

The Autonomous Community public debt has increased 26% in the last 12 months and represents now the historic maximum of 11.4% of Spain’s GDP. Spain’s total public debt reached 63.6% of its GDP and totals 679.8 billion euros. The Catalan Government’s debt has reached 34.3 billion euros, 17.2% of Catalonia’s GDP. It raised 33% in the last 12 months, as the Catalan Government’s public deficit was 3.86% in 2010.

Barcelona El Prat and Madrid Barajas airports will be run by private operators. The Spanish Government has already started informal contacts with potential private operators. Public competition would begin this summer, would take place in two phases and will end before the end of 2011.

The Catalan Government will be able to keep the number of new teacher positions this year, after the Spanish Government withdrew its complaint. However, the Spokesperson for the Catalan Government insisted that the Spanish Executive continues with “its offensive against Catalonia”, as among other issues it still refuses to pay 1.45 billion euros from the Competitiveness Fund. In addition, only 0.8% of the Spanish Government’s approved public works in 2011 are in Catalonia.

The Spanish Government risked losing an important vote at the Parliament if members of the Catalan Socialists had voted the same they did in the Senate. However, they voted together with the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE). By obliging the PSC to choose between its vote coherence and its loyalty to the PSOE, the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition CiU dislocated the PSC in the middle of the municipal election campaign. The rejected motion had asked the Spanish Government to reconsider its stance and pay the Competitiveness Fund’s 1.45 billion euros in 2011.

The Catalan Minister for Finance Andreu Mas-Colell has unveiled the main guidelines for the budget proposal for 2011, which he said are shaped with “austerity, seriousness and credibility”. Public expenditure will be cut by 10%, although he warns that it is impossible to meet the 1.3% deficit objective, as it is a transition year and some revenues have not been paid. However, he insisted that the 2012, 2013 and 2014 objectives will be met. The Spanish Government warned that not meeting the deficit objective for 2011 is not an option. Mas-Colell also explained he has not included, not even as a pending revenue, the 1.45 billion euros for the Competitiveness Fund.

Elena Salgado, the Spanish Vice President for Finance, wanted to end the debate and discarded transferring the 1.45 billion euros from the fund in 2011. This is the amount asked for by the Catalan Government. The Catalan Minister for Finance has been asking for “co-responsibility”. The same day, the Spanish Senate approved a motion asking the Spanish Government to pay this fund this year as it is its legal obligation. The Catalan Government prefers political dialogue than taking the issue to the courts, as suggested by the Catalan Socialist Party.

The Catalan Government received 3.2 billion euros last week from retail bonds, 0.5 billion euros more than the initial quantity released on the market. In addition, it will have to issue more debt and it needs the agreed money transfers from the Spanish Government. However, the Spanish Deputy Minister for Finance has rejected the request from the Catalan Government of 1.45 billion euros from the Competitiveness Fund and has warned Catalonia not to include that amount in this year’s budget. The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government accuses the Spanish Government of “acting as a defaulter”.

The leader of the Conservative and Spanish Nationalist People’s Party visited the Catalan Parliament today. There, he supported the Catalan Government’s claim and asked Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero to fulfil his legal obligations towards Catalonia and pay the money his Government owes.

In the last elections, the elimination of the tax was one of the main promises of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition, Convergència i Unió (CiU), which controls the Catalan Government. From January 1st 2011, first and second degree relatives will have a 99% bonus on this tax. The decision has been taken in the middle of the debate about public expenditure cuts.