Government lodges appeal against reform of Regulation of Regional Parliament of Catalonia

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Council of Ministers agreed to lodge an appeal before the Constitutional Court against the unconstitutional nature of the partial reform of the Regulation of the Regional Parliament of Catalonia approved on 26 July. This reform establishes the possibility for any parliamentary group that wishes to push through a draft bill to apply for its passage through Parliament via a fast-track procedure with a single reading, in order to reduce parliamentary formalities. It also excludes the need for unanimity among parliamentary groups and does not provide for the possibility of presenting amendments to all or some of the articles of a bill.

The President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, who made a press briefing after the Council of Ministers to take stock of the first half of the year, declared that the new regulation may be in violation of the right to political participation of parliamentary minorities under conditions of equality as guaranteed in our political system.

The President of the Government reiterated that "a referendum will not be held on 1 October because the Constitutional Court has clearly ruled that this is unconstitutional". Furthermore, he pointed out that "Catalan society as a whole is highly plural and of a very moderate disposition", and "needs to be protected from the radical and divisive project that some people are trying to force through".

Management of motorway tolls

The government approved a management agreement so that the Ministry of Public Works, through the public enterprise Seitssa, can take control of those toll motorways that are bankrupt as and when a judge rules that they must revert to the State.

This management agreement directly attributes to Seitssa the operation and maintenance of those infrastructures that are included in the eight concessionary agreements that will be rescinded. It will also have to prepare the new contracts to be put out to tender for the management of these roads.

Regional and local financing

The Council of Ministers analysed the respective reports reviewing the regional and local financing systems which the two committees of experts submitted on Wednesday, 26 July to the Vice-President of the Government, Minister for the Presidency and Minister for the Regional Administrations, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, and to the Minister for the Treasury and Public Function, Cristóbal Montoro.

These committees were set up by the Council of Ministers on 10 February 2017, pursuant to the agreement reached at the Conference of Regional Presidents on 17 January this year.

Budget stability targets

The government set the budget stability and public debt targets for the autonomous regions under the common system for the period 2018-2020. Accordingly, the deficit is set at 0.4% of GDP for 2018, at 0.1% for 2019, and at zero for 2020.

The distribution of the deficit target for each one of the regions was approved at the meeting of the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council held on 27 July.

Other agreements

• New call for proposals for subsidies charged to Personal Income Tax revenue under State jurisdiction.
• Criteria for the distribution of social programmes and plans for victims of gender-based violence.
• National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.
• Distribution of 123 million euros among the autonomous regions for agricultural, livestock, agri-food and rural development programmes.