The traditional chocolate breakfast that Jordi Pujol had institutionalized during his term has returned to the Palau de la Generalitat. Salvador Illa wanted his second Sant Jordi as President of the Generalitat to revive a breakfast that was discontinued in 2011. This happened after his institutional message (where he defended Catalan) and after participating in the Sant Jordi mass officiated by Archbishop Joan Josep Omella, which, besides Illa, was also attended by councilors Albert Dalmau, Núria Parlon, Sílvia Paneque, Jaume Duch, Núria Montserrat, Berni Álvarez, and Miquel Sàmper. Illa hosted an event attended by institutional representatives and members of most of the Catalan parliamentary spectrum. Also present were, for example, former Presidents of the Generalitat José Montilla and Artur Mas. The breakfast featured quite relaxed scenes, such as the one between the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, and the Deputy President of Junts, Albert Batet. Both were discussing the current political situation in front of various journalists, with barbs included. Romero reproached Batet for Junts' role in the Parliament – "You need to regain common sense," she advised him – when shortly after, the ERC spokesperson in Parliament, Ester Capella, arrived and asked Batet if they would endorse the investment consortium in Madrid. In fact, Romero and Capella formed a united front here. The conversation also drifted to the "Dragon Khan" of governments that Junts and ERC shared, until Illa joined the conversation and brought it to a close. "Very good chocolate," Batet told Illa.
From Vox's "neither Strip nor 'fronjo'" to Illa's lightning return: the politicians' Sant Jordi
The parties go out into the street to claim a day that does unite left and right
BarcelonaPresident Salvador Illa is known for being punctual. What is not so common is for him to show up early. This is what he did this Sant Jordi's Day in Barcelona. The head of the executive arrived at a quarter to four at the PSC stand when journalists were scheduled for half past four and made a lightning tour of the center of Barcelona. In fact, he did not leave the intersection of Rambla Catalunya with Diputació street. Accompanied by his wife, Marta Estruch, he greeted the socialist militancy, approached the Units per Avançar stand, and closed his not-so-marathon route at the Pasqual Maragall Foundation's. During the ten minutes the stroll lasted, he took a photo with a follower and shared a few words with the second vice-president of the Parliament's bureau, David Pérez, and the Minister of Justice Ramon Espadaler. All this, many media outlets did not see because by the time they arrived, Illa and his wife had already left in the official car.
On a Diada marked by the controversial presence for the first time of a National Police stand, as denounced by the CUP, who were banned from having a space in the city center, the Mossos did not, but they did carry out preventive surveillance in some places. As at the intersection of Rambla Catalunya and Provença. There, a van of the Catalan police and dozens of agents positioned themselves in front of the Junts stand. They were not expecting the return of former president Carles Puigdemont, whom justice still keeps in exile despite the approval of the amnesty law. They were there because opposite the Junts members was the tent of the Jewish Community of Barcelona, which received shouts from some passers-by, without bloodshed.
![The Junts booth, in front of the Jewish Community of Barcelona's, protected by the Mossos.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1600 1200"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Without Puigdemont as a draw, the spokesperson in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, has become the most sought-after representative of Junts. Numerous sympathizers have asked her for photos. Between selfie and selfie, she avoided answering el ARA whether the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, is the dragon, after the onslaught yesterday in Congress, where she demanded that he call elections immediately. With a broad smile, she did not commit and resorted to one of her classics in the lower house: "What you can say is that the closest thing to a right-wing Spaniard is a left-wing Spaniard."
At Esquerra's stand, located further up, the entire leadership was present with President Oriol Junqueras at the helm, cheered by some young people who did not hide their disappointment because the spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, one of the politicians with the most followers on social media among young people, was not there. "Rufián isn't here," an adolescent told a friend, resigned.
![Esquerra's family photo on Sant Jordi's Day.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1920 1080"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
After attending to the media, Junqueras did indeed walk for a good while through the most emblematic streets of the Catalan capital while chatting with people who stopped him. The ERC leader also approached the stands of Comuns, the PSC, and Junts, where he greeted the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, and the former Minister of the Interior, Joaquim Forn, the three imprisoned for the celebration of the 1-O referendum.
Vox, as Citizens did in its day, has asked to turn Sant Jordi into the Diada de Catalunya, and to replace September Eleventh, which it has branded as "civil war-mongering," in front of the party's stand, without a single sad senyera, but indeed adorned with Spanish flags. After his party agreed in the investiture agreement with the PP in Aragon to eliminate Catalan, Garriga reiterated that "Catalan is defended by speaking," despite eliminating the few measures to protect it in the Franja de Ponent. "Neither Franja, nor fronjo", he concluded to try to close the debate and prevent journalists from asking him more questions.
