The PSC of Salvador Illa (La Roca del Vallès, 1966) obtained last Sunday 34.5% of the votes in Catalonia. The best results of the Socialists since 2008. For the first secretary of the PSC, it represents an endorsement of the policies of Pedro Sánchez and that they have voted for coexistence and harmony.
You have a good dialogue with the Junts management, what decision do you think you will make?
I have a dialogue with the leadership of all the Catalan parties, except with Vox. I respect their sphere of decision and it is up to them to make a decision, based on the result of the elections. In these elections it was decided who should preside over the Government of Spain. In Catalonia, in a very clear and majority way, they have opted for Pedro Sánchez, Catalonia has endorsed Sánchez. And for this reason, the political parties must respect that result, especially these parties in the Catalan sphere.
Do you think that the possible support of Junts for the investiture of Sánchez, in addition to solving the governability of Spain, would help to solve the Catalan problem?
With this very majority vote for Sánchez and his policies, they have voted for coexistence, dialogue and harmony. This has been expressed forcefully and clearly in Catalonia. This is the path that Catalan society asks us to continue advancing, at least that is how I interpret it. Junts, ERC and Comunes are very important parties on the Catalan stage and together we must carry out an exercise in dialogue and understanding to move the country forward.
Will the PSC participate in the negotiations with Junts?
A strategy will be decided and set and it will be Sánchez who decides. The PSC, as it has always done, will help as much as possible, but it is not up to me to speak.
Do you see that there are options in accordance with the request for amnesty and a referendum?
Catalonia has said no to a right-wing government. He has said yes to a plural and diverse Spain, which will be represented in Congress, and which must be articulated in a governance that is led by Sánchez. From here we go step by step and you have to go calmly and discreetly. I don’t want to go any further at this point.
But is there the capacity to understand these requests?
These topics should be discussed and discussed with discretion. There is a framework for coexistence that sets rules of the game that must be respected within the rule of law. There is work to unite the Catalans, but I insist that what must be done now is to carry out this exercise of dialogue and work.
If elections are repeated, which party would be hurt the most?
Voting again is not a positive scenario for anyone. The citizens have already spoken. I believe that there will be enough maturity in the different political actors to find the possible articulation of this plural and diverse majority in favor, in the case of Catalonia, of the coexistence of dialogue and progress.
Do you think that Feijóo did not distance himself sufficiently from Vox and that this has taken its toll on him?
In the campaign, people, procedures and the truth were disrespected, with greatly diminished credibility because they said no to Vox, but they agreed without any scruples. Feijóo did not know how to mark distances or red lines with certain approaches from the extreme right that I believe that a party that has governed Spain should have said enough.
What did you think that Feijóo did not condemn the controversial phrase “that Txapote vote for you”?
It seemed very wrong to me, a monumental mistake. This people have also taken into consideration.
There is a manifesto of former socialists who ask for a pact between the PP and PSOE. How do you see it?
It’s ruled out. From my point of view it doesn’t work.
And about the possibility of defectors as some member of the PP has pointed out?
This is not going to happen. It indicates a way of understanding politics as the occupation of power whatever the cost and has to go over whoever has to go through.
Have you had a meeting with Junts these days?
No. Courtesy contacts in Parliament this week, but there have been no other meetings.
Would you like Junts to join the municipal government of Barcelona?
It is a decision that corresponds to the people who exercise politics in Barcelona and in particular to Jaume Collboni. In the PSC we respect the autonomy of mayors, mayors or heads of list. It is up to them to decide which is the most appropriate government scheme.
Did you want Junts to reissue the Barcelona Provincial Council pact?
We have had a positive experience in the past mandate. Our first option was to repeat something that had worked well with Junts. It was not possible. It is always about adding, being generous and looking for the maximum points of understanding possible.
If the full constitution of the City Council were now, after these elections. Would the PSC have activated the operation to make Collboni mayor or would it have agreed with Trias?
I don’t know. This is an exercise in speculation that I don’t know what would have happened. In any case, we unlink an electoral call from decision-making, in this case within the Barcelona City Council, but also in other areas of other city councils and other supra-municipal institutions. Citizens understand well that each election chooses something different. It is one thing to choose who should govern the city of Barcelona. Another thing is choosing who should govern Spain. Another thing will be to choose, when the time comes, who should govern Catalonia.
And to what do you attribute the drop in the polls of the pro-independence parties?
I want to be very respectful with this because each one will carry out their analysis. The elections have been exceptional, but also a recognition of the policy of the Government of Spain, and very particularly of Pedro Sánchez, in Catalonia. Sánchez has risked it in Catalonia, he has not had a passive or contemplative attitude. He has made decisions that at some point were bold and difficult to return coexistence to Catalonia and this has weighed on the minds of many people.
The ERC Government has 33 deputies. Have you thought about a motion of no confidence or asking for an electoral advance?
The motion of censure is ruled out. And regarding the electoral advance, the legislature has certain times and I am in favor of respecting them. It seems to us that things are not being done as well as they should be, but President Aragonés says that he sees himself with the capacity to continue, in the times in which we are living it would be better to have a Government with more parliamentary and more stable support, for what the PSC will continue to build and think about in Catalonia.
Will you agree the budgets with ERC again?
We are in the phase of compliance with the budget agreement. I see the will to carry it out, but also difficulties and I think you should go at a higher pace to deploy it. Regarding the airport, we agreed that the commission would meet throughout this year, there is still time. We’ll see how things go and there will be time to talk about the next year at the end of the year. Our attitude is to build an alternative willing to help, but never block.
Did you expect the results you had in Catalonia?
We expected to have a good result, but it has exceeded our expectations. The Catalans were clear that there were two options and one of them was a setback in Catalan politics and the effects that this could have on coexistence. There were very explicit expressions in this sense during the campaign, but also in other areas, sexist violence, that of minimal respect for an objective truth… Freedom of creation, censorship, was in question.
So has the fear of a PP-Vox government benefited them?
People have seen that grassroots issues were at stake that we had never discussed until now and that since the restoration of democracy in Spain had not been questioned.
After the results that the PSC can offer the Catalans?
A defense of the interests of the entire Catalan society and a concern to generate prosperity. So that this prosperity is equitably distributed and is administered with criteria of social justice. Improve public administration, public services. Have a reformist spirit.