The first reaction that some ERC officials had when learning about the changes in the Government was to think that this was not bad news. Neither enthusiasm nor disappointment. Rather the feeling that the appointment of Arcadi España as the new Minister of Finance is an opportunity to mend relations with the central Executive from Catalonia, although without guarantees. “We are skeptical,” defend sources from the Republican leadership. The Government of Salvador Illa, on the other hand, is openly favorable to the landing of a defender of the reform of the Treasury financing system, as expressed in his time as advisor to the Generalitat Valenciana. “He is an ally,” say Government sources.
With the negotiations for the transfer of personal income tax to the Generalitat at a standstill due to the opposition of the until now head of the tax portfolio, María Jesús Montero, the replacement reopens a blocked scenario that even led the Government of Salvador Illa to withdraw the Autonomous Budget project from the parliamentary process for not having guaranteed the support of the Republicans. “It doesn’t seem like bad news. We’ll see,” they admit from the ERC parliamentary orbit. The promotion of Economy Minister Carlos Body as the new vice president, the other position that Montero held, has not generated great antibodies either.
In the Catalan Government, the change has gone down very well. Sources from the Generalitat highlight that Spain is a “disciple” of Vicent Soler, one of the experts who has advised the Government with the new financing. “He knows about the underfinancing suffered by the Valencian Community and Catalonia and we are sure that he will act,” these sources say.
What the Republican ranks like most about Arcadi Spain is its past. Former Minister of Finance in the Generalitat Valenciana during the mandate of Ximo Puig (PSPV), in 2021 he clearly positioned himself in favor of an “urgent and necessary reform” of the regional financing system to “guarantee equality and equity among all Spaniards” and put an end to the “discrimination suffered by the worst-financed autonomies” as, he exemplified, the Valencian Community suffers. According to the report The 2023 liquidation of the financing system of the common regime autonomous communitiesprepared in 2025 by the Fedea study center with the latest fiscal data available, the Valencian Community was the second territory that received the fewest resources per adjusted inhabitant from the financing system (249 euros less than the average), worse than Catalonia.
Known for showing a moderate and pragmatic profile, Spain’s knowledge of regional financing and the system’s imbalances is presented as a card in favor of showing greater sensitivity to ERC’s fiscal requests. However, Spain has always called for “structural solutions”, both in the reform of the system and in the resolution of the “historical debt”, and has insisted that the debate must be addressed from the “agreement” and not as “a fight between the different communities.” And there appears the “skepticism” of ERC. Without a direct deal with the new Minister of Finance, no one dares to venture to point out how far Spain’s willingness will go to propose profound reforms of the financing system.
Its presence in the Government now appears essential to make all the pieces fit together in order to approve the Catalan Budgets before July 31, the date that socialists and republicans established as a limit. ERC demands a proposal “equal to or better than the transfer” of personal income tax as a possible alternative to approve the accounts; and the president Salvador Illa intends to focus the negotiation on what is within his reach to reduce dependence on the parliamentary arithmetic of the Congress of Deputies. Sánchez’s reform of his Executive, in any case, is announced as a good sign to promote regional agreements also from Madrid and leave behind the friction generated by Montero’s profile, considered by ERC to be much more political than technical.
Precisely, the president of the Generalitat congratulated Carlos Corpus this Friday on his promotion and the new tenant of the Treasury portfolio. “We have transcendental challenges ahead of us to continue generating shared, social and territorial prosperity in Catalonia and Spain, and to lead a Europe faithful to its values and its social model,” he stated in a message in ‘X’ after the appointment of both.
In another message, Illa thanked former Vice President Montero for her “commitment and courage” in favor of a plural Spain. “Thanks also to María Jesús Montero for your commitment and courage in favor of a plural, supportive and fair Spain, where Catalonia and the rest of the communities can deploy all our capacities”, in implicit reference to the progress in the new regional financing model agreed with the Government and with ERC.
