Up to 14 autonomous communities will benefit from the forgiveness of 20% of the debt of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) contemplated in the agreement reached this Thursday by PSOE and ERC, according to which the central Government will forgive 15,000 million euros of the nearly 72,000 million debt of the Catalan Generalitat.
The agreement signed between the two parties provides that the Government will start processing a legal change that will affect all the autonomous communities with a common regime and that will allow the State to claim that about regional debt.
Catalonia is the community that currently owes the most money from the FLA (71,852 million euros).
They are followed by the Valencian Community (46,274 million), Andalusia (25,276), Castilla-La Mancha (11,069), Murcia (9,762), Aragón (4,940), Balearic Islands (4,828), Cantabria (3,100), Galicia (2,759), Extremadura (2,288), Castilla y León (1,966), Canary Islands (1,296), Asturias (858) and La Rioja (758 million euros).
Navarra and the Basque Country, because they do not belong to the common regime, and the Community of Madrid are the only autonomies that do not belong to the Autonomous Liquidity Fund. However, the text opens the possibility that the transfers can also be used to cancel the debt in the case of indebtedness to third parties other than the State, if necessary.
FLA is a line of credit aimed at the State lending money to autonomous communities so that they no longer have to turn to the markets to finance their debt. It is used to finance debt maturities or pay invoices to autonomous suppliers.
Bolaños accuses PP communities of “fraud”
The acting Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Cortes and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, accused the communities governed by the PP of launching “frauds” with the agreement of the PSOE and ERC for the forgiveness of part of the debt of Catalonia.
“I have seen the regional presidents of the PP launch deceptions about the ERC agreement,” the minister wrote in a message published on the social network to all the Autonomous Communities and will serve to facilitate their financial autonomy”. “What is a shame of the PP, without lies they have nothing,” he criticized.
Nadia Calviño, Minister of Economy, also clarified that this debt forgiveness is not exclusive to Catalonia, but extends to all the autonomies, including those governed by the PP. “From the Government of Spain we guarantee the equal treatment of all communities, this is an expanding measure. I point to this because I am amazed by the rapid reaction of some autonomous communities that precisely bring a huge amount of public debt for decades,” he explained..
The regional presidents of the Popular Party accused against the cancellation of up to 15,000 million euros of debt from the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) to Catalonia which includes the agreement between PSOE and ERC for the investment of Pedro Sánchez and criticized that the decision “creates inequality” between communities, so they go to court to defend their interests.
