"Either you speak to me in Spanish or I'll leave": Ayuso rebels against Catalan at the Conference of Presidents

BarcelonaOn the eve of the Conference of Presidents, Isabel Díaz Ayuso increases the PP's pulse against the Spanish governmentThe Madrid president not only rebelled against the fact that regional presidents can speak Catalan, Galician, and Basque, but also flatly rejected, via letter, the proposal made by Spanish President Pedro Sánchez on housing: tripling investment in exchange for the regions permanently protecting public housing. This further strained a conference that the Popular Party (PP) had already pushed to the limit when they threatened to walk out if the Spanish government didn't agree to expand the meeting's agenda. In addition to housing, universities, and vocational training—the topics planned by the Spanish government—the conservatives demanded inclusion of issues such as regional financing, debt forgiveness, border control, and the energy blackout. This Friday's meeting, therefore, will not be a pleasant one.

After the state executive assured that the regional presidents could use the co-official languages at the meeting, the Madrid president warned this Thursday that she will not put on her "earmuffs" to follow the simultaneous translation: "Everything they have to say to me in the corridors in Spanish, or what they said to me during the control session in the Madrid Assembly. "Along the way I'll see what I do with the earmuffs, I'll tell you now that I won't put them on," she added. And she continued with an accusation against the Spanish government and the independence movement: "They use Catalan to make provincialism with Catalan secessionism, which is a corruption that I do not intend to pay for from Madrid."

Ayuso, in fact, has described as "absolute hooliganism" that the state executive offers the possibility of using the co-official languages. The president of the Community of Madrid has little expectation of agreement at the meeting, considering that "It only serves to glorify President Pedro Sánchez." And he took another swipe at the head of the Executive: "He doesn't govern the autonomous communities and shows little respect for them." From the Palau de la Generalitat, however, they advocate for the use of co-official languages for the first time and for the presidents "to be able to speak in Catalan, Basque, and Galician."

The expanded agenda

While waiting to see how the meeting unfolds following Ayuso's warnings, this Friday's Conference will discuss all the points requested by the Popular Party, including regional financing. The eleven PP presidents have presented a series of agreed-upon proposals on the points to be discussed, and, as has been announced, The World And the ARA has confirmed that among the measures is their "opposition to the mutualization of regional debt" and also to individual financing, which they consider "a new pro-independence quota," and "the fragmentation of the Tax Agency." The PP, which also reached an agreement with the ERC (Republican Left) and subsequently extended it to the rest of the autonomous communities, believes that "it does not solve the financing problems of the autonomous communities": "It must be resolved by opening a process of reforming the current financing system." "It will not shy away from any topic of debate." In fact, the Spanish government attempted to direct the focus of the meeting back to its priority: housing. Triple investment in housing in the communities in exchange for each territory protecting the public housing stockAyuso, in a letter addressed to the Spanish president, rejected the proposal, considering it "unacceptable interference." "If you truly want the autonomous communities to collaborate, you must begin by respecting the framework of powers and renounce using financing as a tool of political imposition and blackmail," she criticized in the letter. Ayuso is the only one to respond in writing to the Spanish president's proposal and has once again distanced herself from the other PP presidents. The Madrid president accuses Sánchez of trying to "control" the autonomous communities: "We will not allow housing to be used as an excuse to manipulate information or impose ideological filters."