Junts wants to reprove Illa: "He is the worst president of modern Catalonia"

BarcelonaThe second day of the general policy debate served to confirm the distance between Salvador Illa's government and the main opposition party, Junts, but also to confirm the pressure that the partners, Esquerra and Comuns, are willing to exert until the end of the term. The Junts members were the ones who attacked the President of the Generalitat the hardest: the president of the parliamentary group, Mònica Sales, described Illa as the "worst president modern Catalonia has had" and proposed his censure. Esquerra and Comuns were not flattering either; quite the contrary, they urged him to fulfill once and for all the investiture agreements and also those derived from this year's budgets. Illa, as usual, chose to dodge the criticism, especially that from Junts, and with an optimistic tone, once again extended his hand to all political forces, except Vox and Aliança Catalana.

The general policy debate, which marks the political course, has left an image not very different from that before the summer holidays. Illa has the peace of mind of having approved his first budgets of the term, although he must face criticism from his allies and, especially, from the main opposition party, Junts. The Junts members want to make a name for themselves in the face of the growth predicted by the polls for Aliança Catalana. In fact, Junts' censure proposal is a highly unusual move in Parliament.

Mònica Sales justified it with a barrage of reproaches towards the Government and assured that Illa is making Catalonia "worse," by "anesthetizing" the nation and covering up the "mismanagement" with "propaganda." She also criticized that the president "tolerates Madrid failing to comply with Catalonia by denying the resources that the Principality generates" and that he has come up against promises that, as she diagnosed, have fallen short: "Of the real transfer of the IRPF, nothing; of Catalan national teams, nothing; singular financing, nothing; of Rodalies, nothing. This is his influence in Madrid." She also did not approve of the Government's housing strategy and accused Illa "of having failed," and urged him to abandon "interventionism" and build more apartments and houses. "He is not worthy of the office," she insisted.

"We will be there if he/she complies"

Beyond the criticisms from Junts, Illa has been able to confirm that he has the support of his investiture partners, despite the warnings the two groups have issued to him. An alliance that the president of the Esquerra parliamentary group himself, Josep Maria Jové, has described as "responsible collaboration." The President of the Generalitat picked up the gauntlet and has thanked Jové and the leader of the Comuns in Parliament, Jéssica Albiach, on more than one occasion for their "sense of country."

However, both Esquerra and, with less forcefulness, the Comuns have not spared the Government from reproaches. The president of the ERC parliamentary group has stated that Illa "lacks political leadership" and that he is at the head of a government "without national ambition or management." In fact, Jové snapped at him that he has "failed" in his "two electoral promises" that brought him to the presidency of the Generalitat: "management" and political "normalization" between Catalonia and Spain. "Although he wants to hide the political conflict, he does not succeed, and in this government, you can see the seams," said the republican.

Mind you, Jové wanted to make it clear that the republicans are and will be "critical" of Illa's government, but they will not engage in "destructive opposition." "We will be there if he complies. [...] Prove that your word has value," insisted the republican, who has asked him again to comply with the agreements. In turn, the Comuns have also confirmed that they want to continue working with the PSC executive, but Albiach reproached Illa for his "continuismo" and the fact that there has been no "change in policy orientations." "They do everything halfway. [...] Your government is starting to resemble the 'Come back in five or ten years'," asserted the leader of the Comuns. Further to the left, CUP deputy Laure Vega urged Illa to "truly intervene in the housing market": "Ban speculative buying," she snapped.

The battle with the PP and Vox

On the Spanish nationalist right flank, the leader of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, has stressed that he sees Illa "much more comfortable acting as the pontiff of Catalonia than as president" because it "allows him to sermonize" rather than "take responsibility for reality" in matters such as immigration, security, or education. The popular leader went as far as to say that the president sees himself as representing "the forces of good against the devil" while practicing a "self-complacent method" that "is destroying Catalonia." Illa responded by asking for his involvement in pushing forward the official status of Catalan in the EU—after the popular leader challenged him to a Catalan exam—and the singular financing.

In turn, the leader of Vox, Ignacio Garriga, has accused Illa of being responsible for the fact that "Catalans are living more miserably" than ever, and asked the president if he "will talk to drug traffickers to eliminate" his party. He also criticized his "priestly" tone with the pontiff's quotes. The president, on the other hand, labeled him as "rude, demagogic, provocative, extremist, and undocumented." Also on the far right, the leader of Aliança, Sílvia Orriols, portrayed "multiculturalism" as the source of all evils and criticized the poster that Junts, ERC, Comuns, and CUP displayed against hate speech, which showed the image of an espadrille stepping on a swastika: "Between an espadrille and a swastika, you choose the seat," she ironized. The president described her as a "demagogue" and an "extremist".