Antoni Bassas's analysis: 'Pedro Sánchez is in a hurry with Salvador Illa

The Spanish government has announced that Salvador Illa will participate tomorrow in his last cabinet meeting. Then we will find out who the new minister will be (it seems that it will be Carolina Darias) and he or she will be sworn in before the king on Wednesday. And we cannot rule out, either, that in the same oath Miquel Iceta will also become Minister of Territorial Policy, taking Carolina Darias's place.

So, if you add that this morning the government announced that Illa will resign tomorrow, that today the people who requested mail vote will start receiving the ballots, that on Thursday at midnight the electoral campaign will begin, that Arrimadas offered the PSC to form a "sensible and moderate" coalition government after the elections, it is obvious that the State is shoving us into the poll stations in a hurry, that the Spanish government is very interested in having the judges of the Catalan High Court decide that the elections will be on February 14 and that the move to make Illa president is a state operation, to prevent the formation of an pro-independence government in Catalonia. We already have enough uncertainties due to a virus for the High Court to give itself until the very week of the elections to decide whether to hold them or not. Do they intend to get to the point, as we all have to do with our obligations, or will they take it easy?

The fact that Illa is now leaving the ministry to stand for election indicates that Pedro Sánchez is prioritising the fight against independence in Catalonia, at a very delicate moment, not only because of the figures of the pandemic, but because of what Carme Colomina explains today on the back cover.

The vaccination process is delayed in Europe. Production problems at the Pfizer/BioNTech plant in Belgium or now the delay in the distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine have started to cause nervousness in some European capitals. The President of the Council, Charles Michel, assured yesterday that they do not rule out taking legal action. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has already spoken out in the same vein, accusing AstraZeneca of a "serious breach of contract". To bring it to Catalonia, Dr Argimon explained yesterday to RAC1 that in the next four weeks vaccinations in Catalonia will take place at a slower rate, and the director of CatSalut said yesterday: "We received less than 5,000 doses per day and we have 7.5 million inhabitants, wihchi will not take us anywhere." "And, in the middle of all this, the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, resigns?" Wow, what a sense of state.

Moreover, yesterday there were elections in Portugal and there was an abstention of almost 63%. The Spanish state is in a hurry, a great hurry, for us to go and vote, or rather, for Minister Illa to get the results that the polls say he will. In its own way, with its own set-up, the State has come to play against independence, where the independence movement has won in recent times: the ballot boxes. That's what this election is about.

Our recognition for those who work on the front line, a thought for those who suffer, for political prisoners, for exiles, and may we have a good day.