Spain's Treasury and Public Administrations Ministry says that it will pay the Catalan government the FLA (Autonomous Liquidity Fund) in July to the sum of 110m euros, even though the Catalan government has not sent over the names of the civil servants who have been in charge of approving and making payments from the ministries and public entities yet. The receipt of this list was one of the demands of the State within the framework of the agreement that conditioned the FLA to avoid expenses related to the referendum planned for 1st October. The Treasury, however, believes that there are no current indications to presume any breach of legality and will disburse the amount.
The Treasury Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, revealed the information somewhat ambiguously after the fiscal and financial policy council held in Madrid, chaired by the deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría. Montoro related in the subsequent press conference that he had sent a new request to the Catalan government on Thursday for the list of auditors and other senior officials in charge of payments. From here, he then attacked the Catalan representatives, reiterating on several occasions that it was "obvious" that those with maximum responsibility were the ministers, but that he wanted to "formally" receive the list of those who usually sign off the invoices.
The point is that the minister has not ruled out penalties in future, but he is confident that "surely" they would finally send over the names from the Catalan government "because they are obliged" to do so. "Do not have any doubt," he told the reporters. Secondly, he spoke about "other types of intermediate measures" if it doesn't occur, of perhaps reducing the severity, but still within the framework of the conditioned FLA. "There is no special tension in the issue," he insisted about a measure already implemented in 2015, although this time the context is another: the 1st October referendum and the weekly requirement.
Faced with this ambiguous rectification, the issue appears to rest in the favour of the Catalan government. Tomorrow, the sum of 110m euros should be deposited, as ratified by the Secretary of State for Budgets, Alberto Nadal. At the same time, the Treasury received the justification from the auditor, Roser Vila, assuring that the diverted 6,150 euros had been spent on software and not on electoral expenses. "We have no evidence of anything illegal," Montoro said, adding that he expects to confirm it on Friday when the government sends the first report.