Pere Aragonès, president of the Generalitat and ERC candidate for re-election, has called for concentrating the progressive vote in his party and not in a PSC “with the most conservative policies in its history.” He did so this afternoon at a campaign event with the Jovent Republicà in which he assured that ERC “is the only left-wing party with the possibility of presiding over the Government.” “He who opposes regulating seasonal rentals, who attacks linguistic immersion, who considers that feminist policies have gone too far or who wants to destroy the territory with the Fourth Belt or La Ricarda, is not from the left,” he criticized.
The Republican candidate has taken advantage of the rally with the youth of his party in the Plaza de la Virreina in the Gràcia neighborhood of Barcelona to highlight the social and housing policies that have been promoted under his mandate. He has highlighted the regulation of rental prices, the reduction of university access fees, the expansion of T-jove throughout Catalonia and the distribution of free and reusable feminine hygiene products. “But it is not enough, we want more, that is why I am committed to continuing to put young people at the center as president of the Generalitat.”
With this objective of continuing to work, “because it has not been enough to end the cuts, we want a strong Welfare State”, Aragonès has defended his unique financing proposal for Catalonia, one of ERC’s star proposals for the elections to the Parliament of Next May 12th. “The taxes that young people also pay have to stay in Catalonia,” he indicated.
The president of the Generalitat has also taken the opportunity to remember that his party is the one that has managed to “free the political prisoners, put an end to the crime of sedition and make amnesty possible”, currently being processed in parliament. “But that is not enough,” he repeated again, “to restore all rights and freedoms we need a self-determination referendum.”
For this reason, the Republican has asked to concentrate the progressive vote in ERC in the next elections on May 12. “Do not vote for a socialist party that has the most conservative policies in its history,” he snapped. “The regulation of rental prices has not been promoted by Salvador Illa, nor has he regulated tourist apartments, we have done it,” he added, in a speech in which the majority of attacks have been against the socialists, who lead most surveys. But he has also thrown some darts at Puigdemont’s men: “We have managed to put an end to the cuts, and Junts have already warned that they will do it again.”
Thus, faced with a scenario that will either bring a government with “conservative policies”, in reference to the PSC, or one that “will apply cuts again”, ERC sees themselves as the only alternative “capable of leading a left-wing Government”. “We cannot leave Catalonia in the hands of those who manage Renfe, and condemn the country’s young people to lose time and life,” added Aragonès, who during the campaign has tried to link the PSC as a party that between Catalonia and Moncloa, “he will choose Moncloa.”
The event also included interventions by the party’s general secretary, Marta Rovira, who from Geneva has praised the work of ERC on social and feminist issues, with the creation of the Igualtat i Feminismes department. Rovira has identified those who “today want to return to power” with “the elites.”
Mar Besses, head of the Jovent Republicà list, and Pol Baldomà, spokesperson for the organization, have also intervened, defending the 32-hour work week, opposing “the macroprojects that crush the territory” and directly pointing the finger at Salvador Illa and the formation of Carles Puigdemont, with special criticism for his number two, Anna Navarro. Together with Aragonès, they have called for the importance of young people going to vote in the next elections.
