The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, rejected today any negotiations with Catalonia that may lead to grant the region more autonomy in tax matters because it is not compatible with the Spanish Constitution. In a statement, the president of the conservative Popular Party (PP) marked thus his position on this complex issue that was discussed Thursday in Madrid during a meeting with President Rajoy with the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Artur Mas.
The meeting between the two leaders took place days after a demonstration in Barcelona, in which more than a million Catalans claimed their independence from Spain.
In exchange for the Catalan fiscal pact proposal, Rajoy offered Mas to review in this term the financing system of the 17 Spanish regions, in order to address the undoubted problems in that model.
He argued that using formulas that question the constitutionnal to improve funding can only be decided by all the Spanish people represented in Parliament.
According to the text, Rajoy said that the current subsidy system was promoted and approved by the Government in 2009, but acknowledged that many regions are denouncing the shortcomings of its design.
The head of the Central Government stressed to Mas his belief that the current serious crisis will be overcome through joint responsibility and unity, never through division or institutional instability,” reads the letter from the Moncloa Palace (seat of government).
At a press conference after the meeting, Mas said that after Rajoy’s refusal of any negotiation on a fiscal pact to their community, all alternatives are ‘open’.
