Barcelona, Catalonia, the Catalan government has approved its 2026 budget project in an extraordinary meeting, after securing enough support from ERC and the Comuns to move it forward.
President of the Generalitat Salvador Illa chaired the meeting. Economy and Finance Minister Alícia Romero will now formally present the project to Parliament President Josep Rull, which starts the parliamentary process.
The budget has already faced one setback. In February, the government and the Comuns reached an initial agreement, and Illa approved the project in the Consell Executiu without ERC backing. It was then withdrawn from Parliament in March after ERC withheld support, citing insufficient progress on the Generalitat's income tax collection.
In May, the government and ERC reached a new agreement. According to Europa Press, it includes work on the orbital railway line, the creation of a state investment company in Catalonia, and a majority stake for the Generalitat and Barcelona City Council in the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB). It also includes an extra €527 million for the Agència Tributària de Catalunya (ATC), the Catalan Tax Agency. More Catalonia news
The Comuns' deal, first reached in February, focused on limiting speculative housing purchases. The expanded agreement adds more resources for housing policies and the Neighbourhood Plan, and includes a reformulation of the R-Aeroport road by 2030, extending its route.
Ministers are due to appear before parliamentary committees next week to set out their departmental spending plans. A full debate is expected in early June, with final approval anticipated in July. That timetable could slip by up to a month if any opposition group refers the project to the Consell de Garanties Estatutàries (CGE), the statutory guarantees council.
If approved on schedule, this will be Illa's first budget and is expected to come into force by mid-July. It would replace the current budget, approved in 2023, which has needed credit supplements each year to cover higher income and spending forecasts for the Catalan administration.
