Illa calls manifesto rejecting agreements with PSC "the Colón of the independence movement"

All pro-independence parties pledged yesterday in a written agreement that they would not reach any agreements with the PSC to arrive to power, whatever the result of the elections. The socialist candidate, Salvador Illa, has considered this veto in an interview on SER radio as the "Colón" moment of the independence movement, in reference to the joint demonstration by centre and far right Spanish parties in Madrid two years ago. "This is one more episode of quarrel and confrontation," he criticised. The head of the PSC list has branded this pro-independence commitment as "anti-politics", although both he and Pere Aragonès (ERC) had already stated verbally and on numerous occasions throughout the campaign that they would not agree between them. Laura Borràs (JxCat) had also made her veto to the PSC explicit.

Be that as it may, the written pact - which is not binding - reinforces this political will of independence. It is signed directly by the candidates of all pro-independence parties, including Primàries, except in the case of ERC, in which it was signed by the president of the parliamentary group, Sergi Sabrià. As for Illa, the socialist has always sought a Government with Catalunya en Comú - Podem, in the image of the executive of Pedro Sánchez. However, the polls do not give a majority to these two formations. The veto of the independence movement would force the Socialists, therefore, to seek pacts with the right. During the interview on SER, Illa claimed that he is willing to talk "with everyone" except with Vox, and has claimed his ballot as the useful vote: "I wish the best to all the constitutionalist candidacies, but now the one that can break this [stalemate] and make Catalonia move forward is this one", he claimed.

En Comú, which have shown themselves at all times predisposed to agree with Illa, were surprised at the pro-independence parties' veto of the PSC. The second vice president of the Spanish government and leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, said that he did not expect "ERC to say so clearly to the electorate that it wants to govern with JxCat" and added, in statements to RAC1, that this agreement may not mean anything in the end anyway. According to Iglesias, this gives a "push" to Jéssica Albiach, whom he presents as the only "guarantee of a left-wing government".

"I have not been vaccinated"

The PSC candidate has also denied the rumours voiced yesterday by leaders like Oriol Junqueras (ERC), Teodoro García Egea (PP) or those of Cuidadanos according to which he had already been vaccinated against covid, which would be why he refused to take a PCR test before the debate on TV3. "I have not been vaccinated and everyone knows this," said the former minister. "This information has surprised me". Illa has justified that he has spent "a year explaining to the Spanish that they have to take PCRs when they have symptoms or have been in close contact with a positive case" and that is why neither the test nor an antigen test was done. Several experts in vaccines and immunology consulted by the ARA confirm that neither the PCR nor the antigen test detects whether the person who takes it has been vaccinated or not.

Ciudadanos and PP do not believe the veto

Both Ciudadanos and the PP have focused the efforts of their campaign to warn that a coalition agreement between En Comú, ERC and PSC had already signed. That is why both formations have verbalised today that "do not believe" the manifesto and that the left-wing coalition remains a threat. "The socialists are eager, En Comú are mad for and ERC I do not believe", said Ciudadanos candidate, Carlos Carrizosa, in an interview to TVE. The president of the PP, Pablo Casado, affirmed that ERC and the PSC "will once again agree" a coalition even if ERC commits itself not to do it.