Illa pledges to work hard with Junts and ERC on funding and amnesty

BarcelonaThe President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, revealed this Wednesday in plenary session that, "on the recommendation of experts," all samples taken from the six centers or companies that have worked with outbreaks of African swine fever have been investigated. Part of the sequencing was carried out by the Biomedical Research Institute (IRTA), and another part was processed by the reference laboratory of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture. The last plenary session of the year was marked by the President's appearance regarding African swine fever, which he used to defend himself against criticism from the opposition regarding his handling of the outbreak, his absence during the first week of the crisis, and the possible origin in an IRTA laboratory. "With the data we have today, nothing allows us to conclude that the virus came from the facilities of any of the laboratories or centers that work with this virus," he stated without giving details, after the The Ministry of Agriculture did point in this direction.Having reviewed the protocols, he assured that he has "full confidence in those responsible at IRTA" because the "appropriate" procedures have been followed, but he was not categorical because the investigations are ongoing: "This is the information I have, but we cannot have conclusive information on the matter," he clarified.

The president admitted that on November 26, two days before the first positive case was made public, internal suspicions arose of the reappearance of African swine fever due to an infected wild boar, three decades after the eradication of the disease in the Principality. It took 48 hours for official confirmation of the positive case, which extended to 26 wild boars with the virus, detected within a 20-kilometer radius encompassing 91 municipalities. Isla also commented that seven countries, including some important exporters like Japan, the Philippines, and Mexico—where he was recently traveling—do not accept the regionalization of the outbreak and the export of pork from other areas of the country, although China also does not accept pork from the entire province of Barcelona. However, he emphasized that the outbreak has already been contained, that 75% of non-EU markets are open, and mentioned the ten million euro aid package for the sector, which can be increased to twenty million, and the ICF credit line of up to fifty million euros. Regarding the wild boar population, he reported 180,000, which he wants to reduce by half, although he warned that the crisis will not be resolved in a month. The opposition criticizes the government.

For their part, the opposition criticized Isla for the "grave irresponsibility" of spreading the contaminated sandwich theory, in the words of the president of the Junts group, Mònica Sales, a sentiment echoed by most groups with varying degrees of vehemence. According to Sales, this theory "caused alarm" and subsequent "ridiculousness" due to the suspicion that it gained more traction than the possibility that it originated from IRTA: "He should apologize to the truckers," she stated, before criticizing the president's absence from Mexico. In the opinion of the Junts representative, in other countries the Minister of Agriculture, Òscar Ordeig, "would have resigned" for his role in accepting this diagnosis.

With a very different tone, the president of the ERC group, Josep Maria Jové, and the Republican deputy Montse Bergés took the opposite approach: Jové commented that, although the president was "perfectly connected," "he should have returned earlier" from Mexico; Bergés has said that "we must guarantee trust in our institutions and research centers" and that "it would have been better not to generate suspicion" about the fact that it could have left the IRTA laboratory. This differs from the opinion of the leader of Comuns, Jéssica Albiach, who spoke of a "lack of prudence" in the dissemination of the sandwich theory, similar terms to those used by the leader of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández. The PP leader, in a moderate tone, criticized the dissemination of the "psychotropic" thesis, which he said "discredits the trucker," while also calling for a swift investigation into what happened at IRTA, something the president acknowledged could take time. "Do you think Catalans are stupid?" insisted the leader of Vox, Ignacio Garriga, who stated that the operation of the center in Cerdanyola "deserves answers in a court of law." The leader of Aliança Catalana, Sílvia Orriols, called the presence of the army in Catalonia during the outbreak "ridiculous," a move lamented by all pro-independence forces. She defended Isla's actions, citing "pragmatism" in the operation. Meanwhile, CUP deputy Dani Cornellà stressed that "we must wait for the results of the committee of experts," but that "if it has anything to do" with IRTA, "they will have to assume responsibility." The sandwich theory has been defended by Isla because an outbreak in Sardinia originated precisely through this route. He also defended IRTA's participation in the audit at its own center: "It's my decision," he said, adding that "what has been done at IRTA has been done well," according to his knowledge. The Socialist leader insisted that he had to be on the trip to Mexico for the cultural agenda and that he remained there because "it doesn't affect any human life" and he trusts Councilor Ordeig. He also explained why Mexico specifically refused to buy more Catalan pork: the reason was "internal" due to negotiations with the US, and he said he tried to get them to change their minds.