The Government has communicated to the autonomous communities the distribution of the 10,000 million euros from European funds that will be allocated to the regions, and in this process, the criteria used by the Ministry of Finance have clearly benefited Andalusia and Catalonia above the Community of Madrid.
According to the distribution made official this Monday by the department headed by Maria Jesus Montero, Andalusia will receive 1,881 million between 2021 and 2022, which represents 18.8% of the total funds. Catalua has been assigned 1,706 million, 17.1%. And in third place is Madrid, although at a notable distance from the first two regions with 1,284 million, which represents 12.8%. Also, very close to that figure is the Valencian Community, with 1,254 million of the total that represents 12.5% of all funds.
The Treasury, which already stated in the Budgets that Andalusia and Catalonia would be the most benefited regions, explains that the distribution has been made from three indicators. “The first is aimed at measuring the impact of the pandemic on the wealth of each Autonomous Community. This indicator has a weight equivalent to 2/3 of the total distribution,” says the Ministry.
“The second indicator measures the impact of the crisis on unemployment, with a weight in the total distribution equal to 2/9 of the allocation,” he adds, and the third “measures the impact of the crisis on youth unemployment” and “has a weight of 1/9 of the total allocation”.
However, it seems unlikely that the Treasury explanation convinces the Community of Madrid and its president, Isabel DÃaz Ayuso, who from the moment he became president has been in a tough confrontation with the Government and, especially, with the head of the Treasury and also a spokesperson for the Executive.
The disputes focus largely on the tax area. Montero, already when she was part of the Junta de Andalucía as Minister of Finance, accused Madrid of incurring dumping fiscal. And that complaint was already repeated by the Ministry of Finance, which has caused great anger in the Community.
All this tension has only grown after the Government announced that it wants to carry out fiscal harmonization so that some communities cannot “de facto eliminate some taxes,” they explain in the Treasury. Or put another way: so that Madrid cannot discount 100% of the Heritage tax. DÃaz Ayuso and his finance advisor, Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, consider that this measure is a clear limitation of their fiscal capacity and have promised to face the Executive, even reaching the Constitutional Court if necessary. And in the middle of this situation, The distribution of European funds that has been made official this Monday will not help to bring positions closer together.
In any case, the Treasury maintains that the criterion used is the one used in the EU, and recalls that Madrid received 3,300 million from the Covid fund, which is the highest amount of all regions and 21% of the total.
Use of funds
In its communication, the Treasury recalls that the resources from European funds “must be used to finance, fundamentally, operations in the field of education, health and social services, to alleviate the impact suffered on them as a consequence of the pandemic, as well as to transform them strategically for the future “. That is, they add,” to reinforce basic public policies with additional items in a context of crisis in which they have been shown as the safety net for millions of citizens “.
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