With ten days to go before the Spanish government unveils its 2012 national budget, Catalan nationalists are convinced that despite the Ministry of Finance's reticence, the budget will reserve at least 211 million euros in order to pay down Catalonian regional debt going back to 2009. In exchange, the CiU would back the Spanish national government -- and assume the political costs -- when it comes time to vote on the national budget that, without a doubt, will be the strictest budget since Spain democratized in order to reduce the national debt to 5.3% of the GDP.
That is what sources from the CiU affirmed in order to hint at a dual path for negotiation. On a technical level, there is a direct line between the Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro, and Catalonia's director, Andreu Mas Collel. On a political level, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria and the CiU congressional spokesperson, Josep Antoni Duran I Lleida, are holding conversations.
Pending payments
Further, there is another important component on the table that the Catalonian government has made its favorite topic: 759 euros related to the Estatut 2008 that the Zapatero's government promised to the Catalonian government but never paid.
Catalonia wants the Spanish national government to publicly announce that it owes this money to Catalonia. In this sense, the sources consulted admit that Catalonia is also aware of the national government's financial situation for this year and, for that reason, it will not make their support conditional on accounts that also include those 759 million euros.
Still, they indicated that they will indeed wait on the national government to find a concrete solution for paying this debt. Among the possibilities that they are considering is to pay in installments.
Never before the 25-M
On a purely political level, the CiU is conscious of the fact that that Rajoy's executive will not make any moves until the 25-M elections are over. They admit that during the full swing of Andalusian and Asturian campaign season and during a time when cutbacks and adjustments are rampant, this could damage the PP's success in elections.
"No agreements have been made yet," they admitted in order to call attention to the fact that if indeed the pact was already signed, the Catalan nationalists would have voted in favor of a spending cap or budget ceiling that Congress passed last Tuesday and the Senate approved on Wednesday at which time the CiU representatives abstained from voting.