The control session for the president in Parliament was held yesterday in a deferred manner. It arrived just after a round of questions to a decaffeinated Pere Aragonès in which all the groups – except Junts, which asked for a summit on the drought that the president considered “partisan” due to the way it was claimed, to the chamber – reserved the gunpowder for the subsequent appearance of the head of the Executive, in which he had to explain the recent changes in his Cabinet. The opposition as a whole censured them, especially the appointment of Sergi Sabrià as deputy councillor.
The most widespread criticism is that these are appointments carried out with electoral intent, thinking about the next campaign, even though the intention in the Palau de la Generalitat is to exhaust the legislature.
The president opened the debate and defended that he had made the changes thinking about this last year and some of the challenges that his Administration has to face, such as the transfer of Rodalies, the negotiation of a referendum or a system of singular and better financing for Catalonia, he enumerated. But the opposition does not share this reading at all; a circumstance that they had already foreseen at the Palau de la Generalitat.
“Disappointing, he is only thinking about the elections, another big mistake of his presidency”, the first secretary of the PSC and leader of the opposition, Salvador Illa, told Aragonès, who added that “when someone promotes his director from campaign to deputy councillor, is that he is in electoral mode”, a direct allusion to Sabrià. “Will they think about their electoral interests or what Catalonia needs?”, questioned Illa, who opined that these are approved changes “thinking about what the candidate needs, not the president”.
From the ranks of Junts, Albert Batet asked the president why they have not appointed a deputy councilor to manage the drought; poor results in education; the oppositions, the chaos of which he attributed to the now vice-president Laura Vilagrà; the problem of health professionals, or the pact of clarity, a last point that took time to say while dramatizing that he did not remember what it was. “They could have done a lot of things, but they have chosen a vice councilor for strategy and communication”, he reproached him, who suggested to Aragonès a mere change of spokesperson. “The Government’s strategic project is to criticize Junts. Which is what Sabrià has done”, argued Junts.
However, it was not only his turn to receive the president, but also the PSC, whom Junts is beginning to place in the spotlight more and more frequently. Thus, the post-convergent emphasized that Illa is “corresponding to the current situation”. “The PSC and you are the lifeline and loyal partner of the Government, which has 33 deputies and Salvador Illa who acts as a lifeline when it needs it”, he reproached the socialist leader.
As for the commons – who have requested the appearance of the Parliament -, Jéssica agreed with the others and pointed out that “nothing can stand”. “Will he make every decision as a candidate or as president? For the good of the party or for the good of the country?”, he questioned. “Are these changes that suit you or the country? Are you setting up the campaign committee in the Government?”, continued the deputy. The PP, Vox, Ciutadans and the CUP also added to the criticism.
