The negative separatist quota for the Balearic Islands

It's not supportive. It's not fair. It's not generalizable. And, above all, it doesn't take into account the needs of the citizens of the Balearic Islands. The Spanish government and the Generalitat of Catalonia have signed an agreement that amounts to nothing more than the separatist quota, the transfer of management of all taxes. They have done so bilaterally, excluding and disregarding the rest of the autonomous communities. It's an agreement we view with extreme concern, and one we strongly oppose for several reasons.

First, there are currently three communities that are fair contributors to the regional financing system, meaning we contribute more than we receive (the Community of Madrid, the Balearic Islands, and Catalonia, in that order). Catalonia's withdrawal, with the quota, would break up the common fund, which would obviously harm us. Making conservative estimates, it would mean a loss of more than 50 million euros in revenue for the Balearic Islands, and would force us to contribute even more.

Second, by opening the door to the quota, we enter an unknown financing model that no federal country applies. If the state government—the government of Spain—transfers all tax bases to the subcentral governments—the autonomous communities—it loses its financing capacity. What consequences would this have on the indebtedness of the Spanish government, and therefore of its citizens? And how would pensions be paid with this absolutely unsustainable system?

Third, the agreement literally states that it wants to introduce "additional mechanisms to the current ones to limit downward tax competition." In other words, Pedro Sánchez has agreed that Catalonia should have maximum tax autonomy—maximum management of its taxes—and at the same time reduce that of the other communities. They want to harmonize taxes, that is, raise them, reinstate taxes like inheritance tax, and, ultimately, undo what citizens voted for on May 28, 2023. They want to win through taxation what they didn't win at the polls. You may or may not agree with lowering taxes, but you can't agree with attacking the Balearic Islands' ability to lower them. Because this isn't federalism, but the ultimate expression of Jacobin centralism and an attack on the autonomy of our islands.

And fourth, negotiating the new system of regional financing community by community is a disastrous precedent. Why start with Catalonia and not another community? What confidence can the Government of the Balearic Islands have in a hypothetical bilateral meeting with a Pedro Sánchez who ignores road and railway agreements, denies the migration crisis we are experiencing, or abandons the management of the immigration service or the state security forces?

What affects all of us communities must be negotiated with all of them, simultaneously, multilaterally in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council and the Conference of Regional Presidents, an option it has so far avoided despite our demands. This way and only this way. And it is where we will defend what we have always demanded: the principle of ordinality must be respected; if we are second in contributing, we must be second in receiving; greater emphasis on insularity and all that it entails; attention to the reality of a Spain that is filling up, population growth and our floating population, and how it affects the functioning of public services; and we must protect and increase our tax autonomy. Because we're here to defend the interests of the Balearic Islands.