"Languages are not there to divide": Ayuso reaffirms her boycott of Catalan at the regional summit.

BarcelonaNone of the men The PP supported the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in her boycott of Catalan and Basque. at the Conference of Presidents in BarcelonaBut this hasn't made the PP leader reconsider, and this Saturday she reaffirmed her decision to leave the room that held the top regional leaders when the co-official languages were spoken and not return until the interventions were again in Spanish. "Languages aren't there to divide us, they're there to communicate," she said. However, she endorsed their use in greetings, as the Galician and Balearic presidents did.

In an interview on the Cope radio station, Ayuso defended that she did what, personally, seemed "coherent" to her, following the threat she issued from Madrid, stating that if any president spoke in a language other than Spanish, she would leave the room. "Standing up and leaving, in politics, is a gesture and quite enough. [...] I don't know how to demonstrate my absolute disagreement if you don't leave," she stated. The Madrid leader has insisted on what she called the "earmuff maneuver" this Friday: according to her, allowing regional presidents to speak in the co-official languages is intended to make the rest feel "foreigners in their own home" and gives the impression that Spain is a plurinational state. A thesis she denies.

Isla, on Ayuso: "She'll do it."

Ayuso's snub particularly angered the Basque President, Imanol Pradales, who saw her stand up during her speech. The president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, avoided a heated exchange with her, but did reply that Catalan is not a language for saying "good morning," but rather for expressing oneself "fully." Speaking to Onda Cero this Saturday, the president considered the gesture a "huge mistake" that "helps no one": "She will do it," he noted. Despite defending her position, Ayuso added that her gesture yesterday was not "against Catalonia or Catalan," but rather against "the use" of the "cultural wealth of all," referring to the co-official languages.

The clash with Mónica García

There has also been no rectification due to the clash with the Minister of Health, Mónica GarcíaAyuso's nemesis when she was leader of the opposition for Más Madrid in the Regional Assembly. In the initial greeting at the Conference of Presidents, García went to give her two kisses, but Ayuso stepped away and said: "Do you want to kiss a murderer?", referring to the ongoing conflict between the two over those who died in nursing homes during the pandemic. The PP leader justified herself: "I couldn't be a hypocrite and give her two kisses, I'm sorry. If this is institutional disloyalty... I'm sorry. What I'm not is an institutional hypocrite," she added. In her opinion, she didn't have that response planned, but rather it came "from the soul." Regarding Isla, on the other hand, she said that she found it cordial, despite the political enmity they have endured since the pandemic, and due to the unique funding that the Socialists are defending for Catalonia.

For her part, and in statements to RAC1, García lamented that the PP leader went to Barcelona to "put on a show," a strategy that she believes did not work out for her. For the Minister of Health, Ayuso's attitude denotes "nervousness" about the judicial proceedings regarding the management of the nursing homes in which former high-ranking officials of her government are accused.

Feijóo calls for people to take to the streets

Aside from the controversy, Ayuso also took the opportunity to call for participation in the PP demonstration this Sunday against Pedro Sánchez and "the mafia that is managing the nation," following the unanimous clamor of the Popular Party (PP) presidents in Barcelona asking him to call elections. The PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, also did so, erecting the Popular Party as the alternative to the "most expensive, useless, and corrupt" government. Regarding the use of co-official languages, the PP leader defended a "harmonious bilingualism" that does not "confront." It was at an event in Bilbao where, incidentally, the regional leader of the Popular Party, Javier de Andrés, began his speech in Basque.

The protest will serve the men of the PP to stage, also in the street, The political tension with the PSOE, which already prevented any kind of agreement at the Conference of PresidentsIn fact, Feijóo has maintained that the meeting in Barcelona was the "best example" that Pedro Sánchez's government "is no longer useful," despite the fact that it was the Popular Party that distanced itself from the agreement. to improve the financing of public housing that the central government put on the table. This attitude has been criticized by the Comuns, who believe that Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party was out to disrupt the summit. In statements to ACN, parliamentary spokesman David Cid accused the Popular Party of attempting a "soft coup."