Pablo Martínez & Iolanda Fresnillo, PACD members.

Hundreds of city councils all over Catalonia and the Spanish State are under financial hardship since the begging of the crisis. The debt of local corporations in the Spanish state has reached 67 billion Euros in December 2012, a rise in 230% since year 2000. Even though this comprises only 57% of the Spanish state’s public debt, this debt has a direct impact on the services provided by local governments to cover essential services such as education, health or social welfare policies, integration, equity and cooperation, as well as economic stimulation

More and more, the debate about the obligation to pay or not pay the debt is being considered by city councils. Recently the city council of Badalona has approved a motion that declares part of the municipal debt illegitimate. They were preceded by some city councils in the province of Valencia.

The financial drowning of the city councils has been caused by a deficient financing system and an unsustainable indebtedness. Adding to this, the political centralisation process (driven further by the Popular Party), is trying to diminish the power of local councils. Even though there is a clear shift of the local powers and competences to central government hands, thus separating them further from citizens and social control, there are still a number of aspects to exert pressure on in order to achieve changes at a the municipal sphere. Sigue leyendo →