Catalan PP may lodge complaint against regional budget as unconstitutional

The leader of the Catalan branch of the ruling conservative Popular Party, Alicia Sánchez-Camacho, said Monday that she is in talks with the Finance Ministry in Madrid on whether to challenge the 2014 regional draft budget drawn up by the Catalan government because it sets aside funds for a referendum on self-rule for Catalonia.

Sánchez-Camacho said she first wants to know what impact appealing the budget could have on Catalonia’s compliance with the public deficit set for it by the Finance Ministry before lodging a complaint against it with the Consell de Garanties, an institution set up by the Catalan government to ensure compliance with Catalonia’s Statute and the Constitution.

Last week, the center-right nationalist CiU Catalan government of Artur Mas, the leaders of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), the ICV left-green bloc and the left-wing CUP party agreed two questions for the putative referendum, which would be held on November 9, if allowed to proceed.

The government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said it will block the initiative as it breaches the Constitution. The first question in the so-called popular consultation would be: “Do you want Catalonia to be a state?” If respondent should answer yes, they will then be asked: “Do you want Catalonia to be an independent state?”

The Catalan branch of the PP has until Wednesday to lodge objections to the regional draft budget and the accompanying draft bill. The party has also opposed the proposed re-introduction next year of an inheritance tax in the region.

“We are talking with the Finance Ministry, and in the case of it not affecting the budget, it is our intention to ask for a ruling [from the Consell de Garanties],” the Catalan PP leader said.

The PP has said that if at any point the five million euros set aside for the consultation is tapped, it will take the matter to the Constitutional Court.

Sánchez-Camacho criticized Mas for agreeing to the questions and date for the consultation with the three other parties, claiming this was a means of ensuring the stability of his government at the expense of causing a rift among Catalans. “This is the most expensive budget in history because it comes at the cost of the harmonious coexistence of all Catalans,” she said.