An attempt by Cataluña’s regional premier Artur Mas to reach an agreement with the central government on a new financing plan for Cataluña has failed, and a disappointed Mas has said that he will announce his plans in the coming days and that early elections have not been ruled out.
The meeting with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was apparently cordial and Rajoy’s answer was frank and straightforward: there wasn’t any margin to negotiate a fiscal pact. Mas was seeking a new financing plan that would help his cash-strapped region obtain more funding from central government. Catalans have long complained that its tax base has given more money to Spain that any other region, but they are getting less and less in return.
Rajoy pledged to review the system of financing for Cataluña during this legislature but rejected a fiscal pact along the lines of those currently enjoyed by the Basque Country and Navarre regions.