The opposition shoots at Salvador Illa: "The mud has arrived in Catalonia"

BarcelonaThe President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, will not have to appear at this week's plenary session to explain the PSOE scandals because ERC backed down and allied with Comuns to vote against his appearance on Tuesday. However, the head of the executive was not saved from the opposition's attacks and his partners' reproaches this Wednesday in a more than tense session to control the Government.

Illa had to face the opposition's reproaches for the alleged corruption cases affecting the PSOE. From Junts, Mònica Sales did not mince her words. "The PSOE is mired up to its neck and Zapatero up to his armpits, but the mud has reached Catalonia, up to your own electoral campaign," the Junts member insisted, referring to the National High Court's request to the socialists to hand over to Judge Santiago Pedraz all contracts and expenses from the 2024 campaign. "Catalonia needs explanations and you remain silent and refuse to appear with the support of Comuns and ERC, but it is urgent that you show your face so as not to increase suspicions," she added.

"You are the ones who don't listen and act on rumors. We have provided explanations regarding the contract with Huawei, in which the entire procedure has been respected, and the Court of Auditors has issued a favorable report on the campaign. What further explanations do you need?", the head of the executive replied. There is no open investigation into Huawei, although the file of the case in which José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is implicated mentions the former Spanish president's ties to the Chinese government. Illa's explanations have not satisfied Sales, who retorted that not everything is “fake news” and urged him to abandon victimhood, recalling the EU sanctions against the Chinese mobile phone company, with whom the Government has signed a contract worth 127 million euros. Junts also lumps together the commission that Zapatero's partners intended to take from the Hard Rock project in Tarragona (as can be inferred from the judicial summary), even though the Junts members are as supportive of this project as, if not more so than, the PSOE.

The popular politician Alejandro Fernández also asked the president if all corruption cases are "an invention of the fatxosfera" and criticized him for defending Zapatero tooth and nail. "Neither Zapatero was Bambi nor are you the ideal son-in-law. I don't know if you are complicit in the corruptions, but politically you are responsible for associating with Koldo, Cerdán, Ábalos, and who knows if with Zapatero," said the leader of the PP in Catalonia. "The PSC is free from corruption," replied the head of the executive, adding that he is not bothered by being compared to Zapatero. "I would be concerned if I resembled Aznar, like you," he said to denounce that the PP is now willing to "do things with Junts," in relation to a possible vote of no confidence. Ignacio Garriga, from Vox, also described the latest schemes affecting the PSOE as "socialist sewers" and regretted that Illa responds "with lies." Vox has announced that they will request that Illa testify in the case, which they can do because they are popular accusers.

Esquerra speaks of contradictions

the celebration of a neo-Nazi festival in Santa SusannaJèssica Albiach, from Comuns, also called for explanations from the socialists, although, like ERC, her party prevented Parliament from forcing Illa to do so in a parliamentary session. "Zapatero and Sánchez are too late in giving explanations," she lamented, and urged the Catalan president to demand them from his party because not everything is "lawfare". "I wish everyone would give explanations as quickly as my party does," replied the president.

The CUP and Aliança Catalana were the only ones who did not refer to the judicial front affecting the PSOE in Wednesday's session. The anti-capitalists reproached the Generalitat for allowing "the celebration of a neo-Nazi festival in Santa Susanna" for the fourth consecutive year. "We are focusing on local administrations that allow it," replied Illa, referring to Junts' municipal government. Aliança Catalana, as it usually does, took advantage of the control session to criticize the Government for "importing poverty and violence" with the arrival of thousands of immigrants in recent years.