The leader of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, has abstained from Wednesday's control session of Salvador Illa's executive. The reason is that he had to attend the inauguration of a university summer course in Madrid to address "the separatist threat" in a round table format, according to popular sources. Specifically, at this inauguration Fernández will talk about a "better Spain", about Catalonia, "about separatism", but also about the international context.Illa himself has lamented that he could not address the president of the popular party in Catalonia, who was just re-elected on Saturday, after four years of extension and instability in the party. He was replaced in the plenary session by the general secretary of the Catalan PP, Juan Fernández, who has ceased to be spokesperson and, therefore, number two, but still exercised it this Wednesday instead of Lorena Roldán. Roldán did star in Tuesday's press conference.
Junts demands that Illa "apologize" for PSOE corruption
ERC wants the president to convene the security board to "make effective" the presence of the Mossos in ports and airports
BarcelonaJune began in Parliament with a heated control session in which the opposition tried to surround the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, for the cases of alleged corruption affecting the PSOE and Pedro Sánchez's circle. And the first control session of this July has started the same way, with one more step from the Junts politicians. The president of the Junts group in the Catalan chamber, Mònica Sales, demanded this Wednesday that Illa ask for "forgiveness" for the judicial cases and stop "hiding himself". "When Catalonia has a problem, you disappear; when the PSOE has one, you are always there," she said. "This weekend you had the opportunity to ask for forgiveness on behalf of your party," she retorted, referring to the PSOE federal committee, in which the president said that socialists have "no fear" of anything. Illa, in turn, reiterated that he fears nothing and that he has already given the necessary "explanations".
Sales has emphasized that the plot recently condemned by the Supreme Court, with 24 years in prison for the former number three of the PSOE and former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, "was filling its pockets with mask contracts": "They were making money and you were Minister of Health, you shared the Council of Ministers with [José Luis] Ábalos and now you are President of the Generalitat," he said. He lamented the Catalan executive's response to the verdict and wondered why he gives explanations to the party's federal committee "but not in Parliament." He even wondered if the response he will give is a ""José Luis [Ábalos], be strong", emulating the "Louis, be strong" that former president Mariano Rajoy wrote to the former treasurer of the PP, Luis Bárcenas.
In his response, Illa vindicated the position of the socialists and his own: "I am always there and I am not afraid of anything, not even the truth: I have given explanations every time I have been asked for anything. And when we make mistakes, I am not afraid to apologize, and my party has done so," he concluded. According to the president, the attitude against corruption is best measured by the response given within the party itself. Sales added that corruption cases "can have repercussions in Catalonia" and criticized that the investiture partners, ERC and Comuns, "protect" the head of the Government. Sales lamented the president's response and concluded: "He has not answered anything, perhaps for that reason he does not need to come to the control session. What he has to do is show his face and not hide anymore," he reiterated.
Junts' criticisms have also been joined by the PP, and the party's new secretary general, Juan Fernández, has accused Illa of being "the delegate from Moncloa dedicated to protecting a president increasingly cornered by scandals". "Silence is complicity", he said. Illa, to counter the narrative from Junts and the PP, has highlighted the increase in GDP per capita, productivity, and the reception of European funds.
ERC and Comuns give homework to Illa
While the right has attacked corruption, the investiture partners, Esquerra and Comuns, have given homework to the Government on the eve of the Parliament approving the budgets with their support. The president of the republicans in the Catalan chamber, Josep Maria Jové, has asked Illa to convene the Security Board between the State and the Generalitat to "make effective" the presence of the Mossos d'Esquadra in Catalan ports and airports. This is an agreement pending materialization for a year. However, Esquerra has also focused on the new financing model, the star pact of their party with the socialists, which is still pending to be effective. Jové, in this regard, has called for steps to be taken "before August". Illa, however, has passed the ball to Junts and has called for them to agree to validate it in Congress: "I hope the entire chamber will rise to the occasion, you know who I'm talking about".
For their part, the commons have demanded that Illa get to work to resolve the congestion and accident problem on the AP-7 and have made a proposal: that large vehicles only travel in the right lane and that truck overtakes be prohibited. Illa said he would study the proposal, but in general he did not like Albiach's words, to whom he asked for "responsibility" when talking about infrastructure. "For a moment I thought he would ask for the B-40," Illa joked. "The responsibility would have been to invest more in commuter rail and not so much in high-speed rail," Albiach replied. "In commuter rail and high-speed rail, to avoid flying so much," Illa retorted.
Clash between Illa and the CUP
Illa also clashed with the CUP deputy Xavier Pellicer, who criticized the Mossos' actions during anti-fascist protests in Barcelona against the neo-Nazi organization Núcleo Nacional. "Do you share these actions of the Mossos?", he asked him. "Protest, as much as you want; but not to commit crimes," Illa replied. In fact, Pellicer accused the Government of being "far" from society even though it approves the budgets on Thursday. "You can compare tomorrow's budget with those you have approved and you will turn red, a socialist red that I will love," Illa snapped at him.
For their part, from the far right, the leader of Vox, Ignacio Garriga, referred to the Informe Fènix, which in his opinion "demonstrates that the open border policies of the Socialist Party have sunk wages and are causing the collapse of public services". The leader of Aliança, Sílvia Orriols, said that "one cannot emerge from darkness" and once again linked insecurity and immigration, which received Illa's response with Pujol's integrating speech in Planoles last weekend.