Catalonia to introduce prescriptions co-pay system in May

In May, Catalonia will begin charging one euro for every drug prescription issued by the public health service, following a deal between the ruling nationalists of Convergència i Uniò (CiU) and the Popular Party (PP).

Delays in implementing this co-pay system will change estimated revenues for the year, which had been initially set at 100 million euros. Negotiations between CiU and the PP over the budget are changing many revenue forecasts in a cash-strapped region that has already slashed spending on health, education and the public services sector.

The PP also forced a delay in a tourism tax that will not start being charged until November. Other spending cuts include 14,000 euros less for the Catalan International Peace Institute, 35,100 euros less for government-sponsored publications, 72,729 euros less for technical work and 10,000 euros less for protocol.

Besides this agreement, the PP spokesman in the Catalan assembly, Enric Millo, called for a broader consensus between both parties in 2012, to prevent regional leader Artur Mas from heeding many members of his own party who would rather reach deals with the Catalan Socialists and the left-wing republicans of ERC than with PP conservatives. Millo said that a “global commitment” would make it harder for other opposition groups to influence the regional government.