The leader of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, has abstained from this 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 speak about a "better Spain", about Catalonia, "about separatism", but also about the international context.Illa himself regretted 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 yesterday's press conference, on Tuesday.
Together 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 this July has started the same way, with another step by the Junts MPs. The leader 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". "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 snapped, referring to the PSOE's federal committee, where 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 response of the head of the Catalan executive to the sentence 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 said to the convicted PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas.
In his response, Illa vindicated the socialists' position and his own in particular: "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 measured more 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.
The PP has also joined Junts' criticisms, and the party's new secretary general, Juan Fernández, has accused Illa of being "the delegate of Moncloa dedicated to protecting a president increasingly cornered by scandals". "Silence is complicity," he said. Illa, to counter the narrative of Junts and the PP, has highlighted the increase in GDP per capita, productivity, and the reception of European funds.
ERC and Comuns set homework for Illa
While the right has attacked corruption, the investiture partners, Esquerra and Comuns, have set tasks for 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 become effective. Jové, in this regard, has requested that steps be taken "before August". Illa, however, has passed the ball to Junts and has requested that they agree to validate it in Congress: "I hope the entire chamber is up to the task, you know who I'm talking about".
For their part, the Comuns have demanded that Illa get down to business to resolve the congestion and accident problem on the AP-7 and have made a proposal: that large vehicles only circulate 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 ironically remarked. "The responsibility would have been to invest more in Rodalies and not so much in high-speed rail," Albiach replied. "In Rodalies and high-speed rail, to avoid taking the plane so much," Illa retorted.
Illa's clash with the CUP
Illa also clashed with 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 told him.
For their part, from the far-right, Vox leader 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". Aliança leader Sílvia Orriols said that "one cannot come out of the dark" and once again linked insecurity and immigration, which received Illa's response with Pujol's inclusive speech in Planoles last weekend.
