Alicia Romero: "We are moving toward a federally-led financing model."

The Minister of Economy of the Generalitat, Alícia Romero, stated this Sunday that Spain is moving closer to economic federalism: "We have all been evolving and moving toward a financing model with a federal vision."

She expressed satisfaction with the financing agreement reached with the government: "We have put a new architecture on the table that we hope can be presented between September and October," she said in an interview with 'La Vanguardia', reported by Europa Press.

"Catalonia will collect all the taxes generated and use them to finance the common expenses of the State, and the rest will be used to finance our powers," he said, referring to both homogeneous powers (the same as any other community) and those that are not: those that constitute Catalan uniqueness.

But he hasn't specified the amount: "We have the political framework. We don't have the figures yet, and we'll only have them when the government tells us how much extra it's putting into the system."

In response to ERC's criticism of the agreement, he replied that it includes what he agreed with the PSC, although he clarified: "ERC would have liked the ordinality to appear in the agreement and not in the preamble, but we went as far as we could with the conviction that the Government, when it presents the model, will respect it."

Regarding Brussels' warning to Spain about the conditions surrounding BBVA's takeover bid for Banc Sabadell, he respected the decision but defended the government: "It acted correctly, defending not only Sabadell as an entity but also what it represents. Conditions were only imposed; the takeover bid was not blocked."

When asked why the EU budget scenario calls into question regional funds, he expressed hope that this will change and that the regions' influence will be reflected: "We are losing strength. The negotiations are long. We are going to work on this with other regions."