Ayuso was looking for the same thing as always: to be the star of the Barcelona meeting with her sympathetic gesture with the Minister of Health ("How is it that you greet a murderer?") and unraveling the skein by turning around when Catalan and Basque were being spoken so she could return to Madrid like a heroine sent to hostile soil. She can't be more rude, but let's not forget that constant vulgarity gives her absolute majorities. And the PP needed to stir things up ahead of tomorrow's demonstration in Madrid with chants of "Mafia or democracy."
For his part, Salvador Illa appeared to act as Ayuso's foil. In the face of aggression, common sense and unity. It's the spirit of that phrase Michelle Obama used against Donald Trump: "When they fall, we must rise." Isla, then, smiling, extended an invitation to "know, enjoy, live, share, learn, and use Catalan," concluding with "to understand this is to understand Spain." Isla continues to occupy all the political space he can, representing the Generalitat without crossing the constitutional line, taking advantage of the fact that the PSOE (and he) need the votes of the Catalan separatists to continue governing.
Now, if Illa wants to be consistent, he should always speak in Catalan when he holds an event in Catalonia, because understanding this is understanding Catalonia. And if he wanted to be even more consistent, he should work to make Catalan as obligatory in Catalonia as Spanish is. The rest is fine, but it's a voluntary minimum that could end up remaining a fragile flower that won't make summer the day the vengeful winter of the monolingual ultranationalism represented by Ayuso and her party returns.
