Overview
- ERC is prepared to postpone its late‑February Congress vote on allowing Catalonia to collect the IRPF in exchange for including enabling measures in the government’s financing proposal, potentially through changes to the LOFCA.
- Negotiators are accelerating a State–Generalitat investment consortium to boost execution of infrastructure spending, with draft statutes ready and ERC pushing to create it via a congressional bill rather than a mixed company.
- According to El País, ERC and the PSOE are working to use ERC’s next Congress slot to table the consortium text and to shift IRPF collection changes into the upcoming financing law through amendments.
- The Finance Ministry remains cautious over the political cost of immediate concessions, a stance shaped in part by María Jesús Montero’s candidacy in Andalusia and recent regional election results.
- Chronic under‑execution of state investment in Catalonia (IGAE: about 20% in H1 2024 and 45% in 2023) and the Rodalies rail crisis are intensifying pressure to clinch the consortium, with Transport Secretary José Antonio Santano helping drive talks in Barcelona.