For the PSC candidate for the May elections, Salvador Illa, the presence of the president and ERC candidate, Pere Aragonès, in the Senate to defend the amnesty and self-determination of Catalonia is an “empty set”, that is, it has no fruit, “is of no use” and only serves to play into the hands of the PP in its use of institutions during the electoral period.
For the socialist, who today went to the UGT headquarters of Catalonia for a working meeting with its leaders, the presence of the “candidate Aragonès” in the Senate “no one understands, it has no explanation either by theme or by result, “which is going to be null” because the amnesty, which is the issue that the president went to defend in the Upper House, “is discounted and normalized in Catalonia,” he warned.
Therefore, for Illa, the underlying issue of this presence of Aragonès in the Senate is another: on the one hand, “the PP2’s attempt to put the Senate in an electoral campaign by trolling Catalonia, and on the other the fact that Aragonès “he lends himself to it, also trolling, in his own words.” In short, for the PSC candidate, the president has done nothing more than play into the hands of the PP by “making the joke bigger,” in reference to the fact that The amnesty arouses great reluctance in Catalan society because it “normalizes what is normalized on the street.”
Aragonès has taken advantage of his intervention in the Senate to emphasize the agreed referendum, a proposal that has once again been rejected by the socialist candidate. “Anything that divides Catalan society, and a self-determination referendum is one, does not and will not have my support or that of my political space. We have been crystal clear on this.” And for those who remember that the socialists said the same thing on the day of the amnesty, Illa has admitted that the measure “is different, because it helps close wounds and is the expression of a strong and solid democracy, which generously helps turn the page to a very unfortunate stage for Spain and Catalonia”.
For Illa, “some literally live outside of reality,” he warned, referring especially to Junts per Catalunya, while ERC lends itself to “story for the sake of story.” For his part, the socialist candidate has once again emphasized his intention to “unite Catalans” by putting “public services as a priority.” To this end, the leader has insisted that his pact policy is open and is only closed for the far-right parties -Vox and Aliança Catalana-. “We are a left-wing party and we prioritize progressive pacts but let the Catalans speak and based on this we will decide with maximum respect for what they have decided,” he stated.
In addition to referring to the public services in which he has set his priorities, such as education, the fight against drought, health, security and renewable energy, the PSC candidate has replied to the Minister of Economy Natàlia Mas, who In an interview in El Punt Avui, he warns that if the central government does not attend to the financing of Catalonia, ERC will let the government fall. Illa recalled that after 10 years of Junts and ERC governments “there has been no progress” in terms of financing, so “their credibility is very low.” In this sense, he has reiterated that if he becomes president of the Generalitat “I will resolve the financing of Catalonia” and “I will not talk so much and I will work more.”