Article amb blocs

The Department of Economy and Knowledge of the Generalitat of Catalonia denounces that the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations of the Spanish Government is attempting to divert to the Generalitat of Catalonia the responsibilities for its differences with Eurostat on the deficit accounts of 2015.

Last October 21st the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations of the Spanish Government made public a communiqué on the revision of the deficit of Catalonia by the Spanish Government Comptroller's Office (IGAE). In this communiqué it was stated the inclusion of infrastructures financed prior to 2013 in the expenditure for the year 2015, amounting to a total of €1.318m. Regarding this infrastructures, the Ministry of Finance claimed to have had "no knowledge until this year" of them.

The Department of Economy and Knowledge maintains a policy of full transparency with the Spanish State (Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations, the Treasury and Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) regarding its accounts. The information sent is highly detailed and is sent promptly and regularly.

For over 10 years the Generalitat of Catalonia has sent detailed information to the State regarding its accounts on a quarterly basis. This information has been sent monthly since January 2013.

In addition, the Generalitat also sends annually to the IGAE the General Administration Account of the Generalitat, which citizens and institutions can check in the website since 2009. Since two years earlier, in 2007, the General Administration Account received by the IGAE includes the investments made every year and financed in accordance with the public-private partnership methods (German method, concession system...).

The oldest version of the General Administration Accounts posted on the website of the Department of Economy and Knowledge is from the year 2009 and the report sets out in detail all the works the ministry now publicly states it was unaware of until this year.

The Department of Economy and Knowledge wishes to make clear that the documentation on the adjustment plan submitted on a monthly basis to the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations includes information on the "contingent liabilities", that is, operations that may be included as public sector debt, depending on the accounting criteria agreed upon by Eurostat and the IGAE.

In particular, in the adjustment plan of July 2013 the Department of Economy and Knowledge also formally submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations, the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the Treasury, information on contingent liabilities that include the €1,318m for investments made via public-private partnerships now claimed not to have been known. Annex 1 includes the information on "contingent liabilities" sent to the Spanish Government in July 2013.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations already knew from at least August 2013 (if it had not already studied the General Accounts sent to the IGAE from 2007) the existence of these works which correspond to road and penitentiary contracts carried out via the public-private association formulas and executed before the year 2011.

This year, 2015, Eurostat, in compliance with the new European law ESA 2010 has decided to include in the accounts of the public debt of the administrations debt associated with investments carried out via public-private partnerships. In the Spanish State, it is the IGAE's responsibility to set out the accounting criteria -in accordance with the recommendations of Eurostat- to calculate the deficit of the public administrations. The IGAE decided to include this spending on infrastructures in the calculation of the deficit for the year 2013. However, we have been informed that Eurostat has decided to consider them as expenditure of 2015.

The Department of Economy and Knowledge attributes the variation in the deficit of Catalonia (displacement to 2015) due to the accounting in 2015 of the infrastructure projects with public-private investments to differences between the two bodies: IGAE and Eurostat- which interpret the European accounting standards. Catalonia has no direct access to Eurostat.

In no case is it true that the Ministry of Finance and the IGAE were unaware of the data on Catalonia. Therefore, the Department of Economy and Knowledge firmly denies the statements made by the Ministry of Finance when, in the communiqué on 21 October, it assets it has had "no knowledge until this year" of the infrastructures already reported publicly in 2007 (and in the adjustment plan to the Ministry in 2013). The Generalitat of Catalonia has no desire no capacity to hide anything.

It is Eurostat's responsibility to determine to which year it attributes the accounting of the public-private partnership contracts and it was Eurostat which determined that they must be included in the calculation of the deficit for the year 2015.

Chart in Annex 2 lists the expenditure in infrastructures totaling €1.318m. Note that all of them are included in the listing of Annex 1.