Sánchez and Illa meet at the Moncloa Palace amid the crisis over the Cerdán case.

Madrid / BarcelonaSpanish President Pedro Sánchez summoned the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, to the Moncloa Palace this Friday, amid the crisis surrounding the Cerdán case. The meeting, as confirmed to ARA by sources familiar with the matter, came as a surprise and was not on either party's agenda. This week, Illa joined forces with Sánchez, defending the "forcefulness" with which he has acted in trying to contain the scandal that has affected the party and, consequently, the Spanish legislature. In fact, Isla is one of Sánchez's mainstays within the party, and the two presidents had already been in contact in recent days.

During the morning, sources from the Presidency of the Generalitat (Catalan Government) avoided confirming the meeting between the two presidents, while the Moncloa Palace avoided denying it. Hours later, the Government assured that the fact that the two leaders were meeting was "nothing extraordinary" and emphasized that among the topics discussed was the candidacy to host the event. A European artificial intelligence gigafactory in Móra la Nova. News that also took the municipality by surprise: the mayor of Móra la Nova, Jesús Álvarez, stated that he learned of the candidacy this Friday, although they had been working on digitalization projects for the municipality for two years. "We didn't expect it to be so big; we expected something smaller (...) Today they have made my year and my term," he added in a statement to Catalunya Ràdio.

Beyond the surprise announcement they made public, the meeting comes at a pivotal moment for state governance. Since the Cerdán scandal broke, Salvador Illa has not only closed ranks with the response of the PSOE and Pedro Sánchez, but has also been quick to dispel any shadow of his management of the Ministry of Health during the pandemic, when he sat on the Council of Ministers alongside the former Minister of Transport. "I am completely calm, clean, and ready to show my face when asked," he said during the control session in Parliament this week, where he engaged in a tense face-to-face with the PP. It was when its leader, Alejandro Fernández, asked him who Chili was, the name that appears in the UCO report and with whom, according to Koldo García, the then Minister of Health spoke regularly. "I have no fucking idea who he is," Isla said during the parliamentary session.

The Spanish government insists on separating the case from its management. This Friday, Finance Minister María Jesús Montero called for justice to be allowed to work and to act "quickly" to "get to the truth." "If anyone has committed any irregularity, they should pay, and they should pay with the action of justice," Montero insisted. So far, the plurinational majority that underpins the governability of the State has demanded explanations from the Spanish government and a clean slate, but has ruled out supporting a possible motion of censure that the People's Party (PP) would be willing to propose if it garners all the support. In this regard, the Minister of Education and spokesperson for the Spanish government, Pilar Alegría, reiterated this Friday the Socialists' willingness to serve out their mandate until 2027, despite the clash with the bishops and searches at Ferraz and Transport.