The Catalan government has failed to find an external financial institution to act as guarantor to its risk fund to cover the 5.4 million euros in bond payments demanded by the Court of Accounts and the president of the pro-independence Solidarity Fund, Pep Cruanyes, is sure that it's the fault of the Spanish state. "Providing a guarantee does not involve any risk for a bank," Cruanyes explained, affirming that "the banks said no to this guarantee out of fear, out of fear of reprisals from the state."
Cruanyes made a call for European help on the question, asking the Council of Europe to give its opinion on "this state extortion", and also pointing out that without previous "extortion" from Court of Accounts cases "we would now have four and a half million euros in the Solidarity Fund".
The president of the fund made these statements in an interview with Catalunya Ràdio the day after the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, had said that "the Catalan issue is an internal matter in Spain, but of course we are keeping an eye in various processes, such as those of the Court of Accounts". Brussels confirmed that it is "following" the public auditing tribunal's case focused on Catalan foreign policy spending prior to the 1st October referendum, and it is waiting "to see what the final decision will be".
1,200,000 euros
The Solidarity Fund, set up to help the thousands of pro-independence Catalans facing financial difficulties as a result of legal costs and fines arising from the independence process, has managed to raise nearly 1,200,000 euros for those affected by the Court of Accounts demands "thanks to hundreds of people who make small contributions." Although this figure is insufficient, Cruanyes commented that "the political figures will not be ruined thanks to the people's solidarity".
The Catalan economy minister, Jaume Giró, reported on Tuesday that the Government had not yet found any financial institution willing to act as guarantor for the Catalan administration's risk fund to cover the sums demanded in the foreign affairs case before the Court of Accounts.
"The first financial institutions we have contacted, with significant business in Catalonia, have not approved this operation," acknowledged Giró. "It is, however, an operation that presents no technical, commercial or legal obstacles," he noted.
At that time, he also announced that the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF), public financial institution, would not act as a guarantor of the 5.4 million euros for the 34 defendants. “We don't want to put any ICF professionals at risk,” Giró corroborated. The CUP criticized this decision by the government.
However, this Wednesday morning, after requests from within the ICF and discussions with president Pere Aragonès, the minister announced that, in the end, the Catalan public financial institution will act as guarantor for the fund, as provided for in the decree law creating the fund.
Main photo: The vice-president of Òmnium Cultural, Marcel Mauri, the president of the Solidarity Fund, Pep Cruanyes and the president of the ANC, Elisenda Paluzie / ACN