The vice president of the Catalan government and finance minister, Oriol Junqueras, on Tuesday warned the Spanish acting finance minister, Cristóbal Montoro, that he has no intention of implementing any of the cuts he has been asked make to balance the deficit. What’s more, he insisted that if Montoro believes that these cuts have to be made, that he can implement them himself. “If he wants to close a hospital, he will have to do it himself. We will not do it,” he said.
The Spanish finance ministry yesterday sent a letter to Junqueras calling on the Generalitat to withhold credit availability to comply with the 2015 deficit, and he gave a fortnight to respond. Today, Junqueras replied that he intends to ignore the matter. The ministry also warned that if the Generalitat is unwilling to make the cuts, the state government has the legal capacity to “pass a lack of credit availability” and to “put the corresponding withholding of credit into effect” so as to “guarantee compliance with the objective established.” In other words, turn off the financial tap to the Generalitat.
The Generalitat’s economy secretary, Pere Aragonès, warned this morning that Montoro’s plans would imply an adjustment of between one and two billion euros in this year’s budget, a cut equivalent to closing down the prisons and justice system for a year, as well as three main Catalan hospitals.
With this in mind, Junqueras met the president of the Generalitat in the Catalan parliament this morning, and on leaving announced the position they intend to take:“We will not make any cuts.” And, if Montoro believes they must be made, “he can explain how he thinks that what he says should be interpreted in not specifying any figure.”
“We will defend our basic services,” the finance minister continued. He said he understood the difficulties that the ministry is experiencing in meeting the target set by Brussels, but that as he understands it these difficulties cannot be passed on to the autonomous communities, which manage a social budget for such things as health and education -and, in the Catalan case, also the police, prisons, and so on. “The solution cannot be put at the door of the public,” Junqueras said. “We will not close either schools or hospitals no matter how much the ministry tries to pass on its responsibilities to the communities,” he insisted, pointing out that 70% of the Catalan budget is destined for basic services.
