The Airef sees it as “difficult” for the State to transfer more funds to the autonomies in the reform of the financing system

That the State transfers part of its resources to the autonomous communities is a possibility that is on the table in view of the proposal for reform of the financing system that is being finalized by the Ministry of Finance. The department led by María Jesús Montero is expected to present, at least, the basic lines of its proposal to reform the system in the next Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) that should be held in the coming days.

Herrero has explained that The starting position in the finances of the central State is already “really difficult” because the three factors that will increase spending the most in the coming years are within its competence. Expenditure on aging – pensions, health and long-term care -, the largest outlays on interest on public debt and defense spending correspond for the most part to the central administration.

Consequently, Herrero has asked to “rethink” this approachalthough it has not gone into assessing whether there are communities that really need a greater volume of funds to finance themselves. “We could think that what needs to be done is a redistribution between communities, but that is a delicate issue,” said Herrero, who summarized his position with an example. “The important thing is to see what blanket we have and how we distribute it. And not that one party always has to have more resources on the table.”he added.

The president of the Airef Nor does he see it as “necessary” for the Government to give more margin for deficit to the autonomous communities as Junts demands to give its approval to the deficit and public debt objectives. The last Treasury proposal, which did not obtain the support of the Cortes, was a deficit limit of 0.1% of GDP for the autonomous sector.

Herrero considers thatIt is necessary to change the approach and start talking about spending limitsas proposed by the European tax rules. “It makes no sense to talk about equal objectives for everyone because not everyone is in the same situation,” he noted.

Furthermore, the president of the Airef has once again warned about the risks involved in the high increase in spending by the autonomous communitieswhich in many cases are structural in nature. “Just because things are going well does not mean that we do not have to be careful with what the dynamics are and what can happen in the medium and long term,” he noted. “When things go wrong, we will start making reforms and try to fix things hastily,” he added.

Herrero has insisted that all the changes that are being proposed separately, such as debt relief, the deficit margin or the distribution of funds, should be treated together within a reform of the financing system.