The government activates the countdown to the spending cap and asks for the abstention of the left.

PalmThe First Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance, Antoni Costa, announced this Tuesday that he has given himself exactly two weeks to gather the necessary support to approve the spending cap. "We are committed to negotiating without further delay," he asserted during an appearance before Parliament, where he reported that he has already submitted the draft. "We are going to try until the very end," he emphasized. After starting the countdown, Costa urged the two parties that had expressed a willingness to discuss the spending cap—Vox and the PSIB—to begin negotiations. He also requested abstentions from MÉS per Mallorca, MÉS per Menorca, and the representative from Unides Podem.

If the talks are successful, this regulation, which establishes the framework and available resources for subsequently drafting the budget, should be submitted to the plenary session on December 2nd. "We cannot indefinitely delay this negotiation," said Costa, who admitted that he does not currently have "the necessary support" and called on the other groups to "rise to the occasion" to approve an expansionary spending ceiling (amounting to €6,924.4 million, €361 million). He also set his conditions. In addition to setting the timetable, he demanded that the negotiations be limited to "discussing the budget" and that "other issues be set aside," and that "the needs of families, the self-employed, SMEs, and workers" be debated.

After a question period in which the Vox spokesperson, Manuela Cañadas, accused the Government of failing to uphold its agreements and not to implement the strategic projects lawTensions between Costa and the far right have resurfaced. Cañadas has accused the government of lacking clarity regarding its intentions. In her view, it has no intention of approving the 2026 budget, but rather of constructing a victimhood narrative before extending the current budget. Simultaneously, she accused the People's Party (PP) of biting the hand that fed them. "We haven't broken a single one of the agreements we reached with Vox, and we have no intention of breaking the 2025 agreement either, despite you coming to this podium and saying all sorts of things about us," Costa responded. For his part, the PP spokesperson, Sebastià Sagreras, stated that Cañadas is a slave to her party's directives in Madrid.

On behalf of the PSIB, the group's spokesperson, Iago Negueruela, assured that they would not establish "red lines" in the negotiations, but asked the Government to fulfill its promises by raising the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS) and approving a tax on rental vehicles. Despite agreeing to negotiate the spending cap, the Socialist representative has already indicated that the PP cannot count on their vote in favor of the budget, due to ideological differences between the two parties. For example, the PSIB does not support the tax cuts promoted by the PP this legislative term.

For his part, the leader of MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, lamented that the PP had directly ruled them out as potential partners. Regarding Costa's calls for abstention, the eco-sovereignist reminded him that "you can't have your cake and eat it too," meaning: negotiating with Vox and expecting support from the left. In this sense, Apesteguia warned that he will not negotiate the spending cap unless he has a commitment from the Executive that they can also discuss the budget. The spokesperson for Més per Menorca, Josep Castells, echoed this sentiment, asking the Government why they were excluded from the negotiations. He also warned that neither the PSIB nor the Government has any intention of approving the spending cap. For his part, Unides Podem deputy José María García considered it "implausible" that the vice president would try to reach an agreement with both Vox and the PSIB, two "such different" parties.