Sanchez promises Aragonès a plan to support the hospitality sector that will be "of special importance for Catalonia"

BarcelonaA month ago, Vice President Pere Aragonès called on the Spanish government to implement measures in order to support the sectors which are most affected by covid, as well as a tax moratorium. The reply of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has not arrived until this Friday, four days after Aragonès publically complained about his lack of response. In a letter to which the ARA has had access, the executive head of the state assures Aragonès that he "shares the concerns" of the Government and informs him that he will authorize a plan to support the hospitality sector that will be of "special importance for Catalonia". He also reminds him of the importance of the approval of the State's general budget.

Sánchez thanks Aragonès for the "concrete proposals he makes" and reassures him of the subsidy plan for the hospitality sector - but he does not specify the measures involved in the plan. He also refers to the management and distribution of European resources - Aragonès had asked for direct distribution of the money from the Generalitat. Sanchez has informed the Govern that "10,000 million" of the aid "will be programmed and managed directly by the autonomous communities in their operational programs". In addition to this, he expressed his intention to encourage the participation of the autonomies in the management of these resources, and reminded him that "the budget bill" already provides that "54% of the REACT-EU (the European budget for recovery) and the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (MRR) funds" will be "managed by the communities".

On the other hand, Sanchez also stresses in the letter that the Spanish executive has already implemented measures to ensure that "entrepreneurs under the VAT module system obtain a tax benefit applicable in the January statement", and that the corporate tax has allowed "all companies [to] have had the exceptional possibility of calculating the installment payments of 2020, so that those who have had losses will not have to deposit the money in advance". The letter also reminds of some measures that have already been taken from the Spanish government, such as the deferral of some SMEs and self-employed workers' debts.

Sanchez also brings up the measures on work-life balance, which are present in the budget and have been assigned 200 million euros, and mentions the extension of paternity leave. The letter concludes by expressing "all the support" of the Spanish government "in view of the very exceptional measures being adopted by the Generalitat".