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Mark Nayler
Friday, 16 January 2026, 10:59
This week saw Spain's finance minister María Jesús Montero arguing with her regional counterparts over the government's proposed new financing model. Unveiled in the middle of last year, it would apparently generate an extra €21 billion for Spain's autonomous regions, to be distributed according to population age and size, unemployment rate and environmental factors. Participation in the new scheme, said Montero, will be voluntary - but it sounds like a no-brainer, no?
No. At Wednesday's meeting, representatives of the PP, which controls 12 of Spain's 17 autonomous regions, were united in their opposition to the proposed model. They see it as another concession from Pedro Sánchez's coalition to the Catalan separatists on which it relies for support. In the colourful words of Andalucía's finance minister Carolina España Reina (of the PP), it will serve up "champagne and caviar for the Catalan independence movement [and a] menú del dia for the rest of Spain."
The few details of the financing model that have been made public suggest that Reina has a point. Catalonia would receive €4.7 billion under the new arrangement - almost a quarter of the total. Catalan News reported that the northeastern region's resources would increase by 15%, compared to 12% for most other parts of Spain. There are also rumours that Catalonia will be allowed to collect its own income tax.
Yet Montero, who is expected to run as the Socialist candidate in this year's Andalusian elections, accused the PP of spreading false information. She pointed out that 70% of the remaining funds would be allocated to regions controlled by the Conservatives. But if the new model would benefit all parts of Spain, as Montero claims, why weren't their regional governments consulted during the drafting process?
The proposed new arrangement was drafted by just two parties, the PSOE and Catalonia's pro-independence ERC, in exchange for installing the Socialists' Salvador Illa as Catalan president in 2024. So - Catalan separatists are helping to create fiscal legislation that affects the whole of Spain, despite occupying just 14 of parliament's 350 seats. Yet the PP, which occupies 121 and controls most of the country, had no say in creating the new model. The anger expressed by its finance ministers at this week's showdown is understandable.
Even if this specific legislation isn't designed to keep separatists happy, the pro-Catalan bias of Sánchez's government is obvious. Amnesties, extra funds from the state budget, debt forgiveness, a promise to make Catalan an official EU language - the prime minister is fighting for Catalonia's cause almost as hard as exiled martyr Carles Puigdemont once did.
Separatists have been quaffing champagne and guzzling caviar for a long time, at a lavish banquet laid on by the government. Meanwhile, politicians from less favoured regions sit at a bar next door, drinking Cruzcampo and eating migas.