The Spanish Treasury has this Monday warned banking sector representatives that they can only accept payments from credit cards belonging to high-ranking officials of the Catalan government that have been previously authorised by the Spanish executive.
Treasury sources say that this comes as part of the deployment of the measures announced last Friday by Treasury minister Cristóbal Montoro, who gave Catalan president Carles Puigdemont a 48-hour ultimatum to adopt a non-availability agreement about items in the Catalan budget not submitted for the Spanish Treasury to check.
The sources say that any expense subsequent to the intervention entering into force will not be accepted without the ministry's permission. The aim is to avoid Catalan government officials making payments in relation to the referendum with the Spanish executive only finding out after the vote on 1st October.
The measure was discussed this Monday in a meeting in Madrid between representatives of Montoro's team and the banking sector, where the Spanish executive detailed how to act in relation to the new conditions imposed on the Catalan government and the Treasury's taking of control over their expenses.
Part of the intervention
It is all, according to the Treasury, part of the intervention approved by the Spanish government's Commission on Economic Affairs whose objective is to avoid the Catalan government being able to make any kind of payment in relation to the referendum. This came after Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras refused to continue sending the weekly spending reports last Thursday.
From this premise, the Spanish government approved a new system of financial control of the Catalan government which puts control of all spending in its hands. According to the new system, the state directly takes on the payment of the majority of essential budget items, that is "a good part of payrolls, credits and transfers for basic public services".
Moreover, the system obliges the Catalan government to inform it of all pending loans and calls upon banks to report to the Public Prosecutor any movement of money linked to the referendum. Related to this, the Spanish government gave the Catalan government 48 hours to adopt a non-availability agreement on budget entries that up to now weren't subject to checks.
The Catalan government has this Monday presented an appeal to the Supreme Court to try to stop Montoro's offensive. The appeals calls for the magistrates to adopt interim measures to stop the intervention. The vice-president of the Catalan government said this Monday that the Spanish executive is looking for the "total collapse" of the administration in Catalonia, an "irresponsible" act.