Salvador Illa's government is now talking about "North Catalonia" but will not dismiss the controversial director general of the House of Perpignan.

Barcelona"The French state only recognizes the Pyrénées-Orientales designation, and we, from the delegation, or at least I as director general, must maintain institutional neutrality." With these words, the director general of the Generalitat in Perpignan, Christopher Person, justified last week in Parliament why he didn't want to use the term "Catalunya Nord" to refer specifically to the region where he is the delegate for the Generalitat. Person's position raised a storm, to the point that former delegates from this territory called for his dismissal, in addition to the pro-independence parties (Junts, ERC, and CUP) and Catalanist entities from the Catalunya Nord. For all these reasons, this Tuesday the spokesperson for the Catalan government, Silvia Paneque, had to address the controversy and asserted that the Socialist government has "no problem" with using the term "Catalunya Nord." However, it is true that the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, did not use this term at any time during his visit to the area a few days ago.

"[Person] was referring to official nomenclatures of the French state," Paneque stated to justify the position of her delegate in the Catalunya Nord. In a press conference following the executive council meeting, the spokesperson asked to distance herself from the "noise" and focused her response on the Government's policies for this region, highlighting actions such as the €800,000 increase announced by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, for the La Bressola school. during his visit to Northern Catalonia.

Be that as it may, Paneque has assured that the executive maintains confidence in its delegate for Northern Catalonia. The government appointed him in October 2024, a few months after the change of executive in the Generalitat. Since then, this is not the only controversy surrounding Person. During the Christmas holidays, he sent greetings in French rather than Catalan, which caused controversy. The delegate at the time justified this by a technical problem.