Salvador Illa defends his decision to remain in Mexico despite the swine fever outbreak: "I haven't made any mistakes."

BarcelonaThe outbreak of African swine fever in Catalonia caught the attention of the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, official trip to MexicoDespite repeated demands from ERC, Junts, the CUP, and the PP for his return, the president continued with his agenda in the country, highlighted by Barcelona's participation as guest city at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL). Upon his arrival from Mexico, Isla faced criticism from part of the opposition during the parliamentary question time, where he defended his decision to maintain his pre-arranged meetings, both at the FIL and in Mexico City, which included economic events. "I have my own way of leading and managing; I admit there may be others. I admit I can make mistakes. I sincerely believe that, in this case, I haven't made any," Illa asserted. He maintained that the Catalan government has addressed the crisis with "science, transparency, collaboration," and support for the sector.

Junts had requested the president's appearance before the Catalan Parliament in a special session to account for the outbreak. which affected up to 79 municipalities and mobilized 1,000 emergency personnel on the ground. The fourth chamber rejected the request, taking into account that Isla himself later requested to appear before Parliament. In this regard, the leader of Junts in the Catalan Parliament, Mònica Sales, lamented that Catalonia had had "an absent president" while confirmed infections rose, and demanded "emergency solutions" and guaranteed "traceability" of the virus with complete transparency. "I understand political criticism, but on this issue, I think it's unnecessary," Illa replied. Juntos has already accused Isla of having preferred to be in Madrid celebrating Hispanic Day Instead of being in Catalonia during the latest episode of the DANA storm.

ERC and the CUP have also pressured the head of the Catalan government for not returning from Mexico. From the Republican ranks, Josep Maria Jové asserted that it is not enough for Isla to have "followed firsthand" the government meetings to address the situation by connecting remotely. "Leading means being on the front lines, alongside the citizens," said the ERC deputy. Along the same lines, CUP member Dani Cornellà criticized his absence, a criticism to which Illa responded by pointing out that it made no sense to return just to take "the photo op." "I already have plenty of photos," he added. Without going into details about the government's handling of the crisis, Vox simply stated that Isla will go down in history as "the minister of the pandemic and the president of the swine fever." Before them all, Illa defended the Catalan government's handling of the outbreak as "correct" and stated that it had used all available resources—including the Military Emergency Unit (UME).

The PP is digging into Salazar's case

Distancing himself from the pro-independence front against Isla over the pork crisis, the leader of the PP, Alejandro Fernández, has preferred to stir up controversy over the PSOE's lack of reaction to internal complaints of sexual harassment against former leader Paco Salazar. The president has denied hiring him as an advisor, as reported Eldiario.esHowever, Socialist sources detailed on Monday that they had indeed worked with him before the allegations were made public. Following the question period, the People's Party (PP) announced it would request the appearance of the director of IRTA, given the hypothesis that the swine fever virus originated in a laboratory. However, during the question period, neither Fernández nor any other group inquired about this possibility, as the Agriculture Ministry had announced shortly before, nor about the investigation opened by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police).

With budget negotiations yet to begin, Jéssica Albiach has continued with the demand that the Commons have put on the table this week: the maintenance of discounts on public transport fares. a demand that the Government maintains depends on negotiations with Madrid"We'll run the numbers and explain them. It would be very easy to come here and say everything is free. I can't do that," Illa warned. Albiach told him that if he doesn't, they won't sit down to negotiate the 2026 budget. "I will sit down, thank you," the president replied. For its part, Aliança criticized the Catalan government for signing an agreement to monitor hate speech on social mediaAnd the PSC has waived its turn to speak in the question period, which was exceptionally held on a Friday afternoon.