The first secretary of the PSC and former Minister of Health during the pandemic, Salvador Illa, assured this Saturday that “not a single euro came from the Ministry of Health” for the company linked to the Koldo plot. He explained this in an interview with Catalunya Ràdio, in which he also referred to the future amnesty law.
In relation to the Koldo case, the socialist leader has asserted that his department always acted “in accordance with the law.” “At a very delicate moment we did what had to be done,” Illa said, while reiterating his “absolute availability” and total collaboration to clarify the facts of the Koldo case.
Likewise, he has assured that he is “disappointed, angry and disgusted” because it was testimony to the much work that was done at that time by the entire society and many public servants and how some even gave their lives. At that moment, according to Illa, the best of the human condition came out and also the worst in some episodes “and this (the Koldo case) is one.” For this reason, he has asked that it go to the end so that everything that needs to be clarified is clarified and that “the weight of the law falls” on the people who have behaved in this way in such a delicate situation.
Regarding former minister José Luis Ábalos, he has said that he should have resigned his membership as a deputy when the PSOE asked him to do so. Illa has also had words of reproach for the PP and has stated that since the beginning of the legislature they have been trying not only to overthrow the Government, but also to “dehumanize” and destroy the figure of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, which “transcends all acceptable lines.
Regarding the future amnesty law, the former minister has asserted that the rule is not made to help the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont, “but to help Catalonia” to overcome times that have not been good, to “close wounds” and open a new stage.
Illa has described this week as one of the most important of the last decade in Catalan politics, in which an agreement has been reached to carry out the amnesty law. With this, he has said that what is sought is for Catalonia “get back to normal.”
Illa explained that the socialists now support the amnesty because the conditions have been met to do so and he has assured that pragmatic and useful politics require “courage and political determination.” Likewise, he has declared that the socialists have not given in to the independence demands, but rather have done an “exercise of seeking points of agreement.”
Illa does not believe that the polls indicate that support for the amnesty will take an electoral toll on the PSC, although he has said that now he is not on that record.
Asked about the PSC congress that will be held next week, he did not want to reveal whether Miquel Iceta will continue to be president of the party and has assured that “he has relevant political weight.”
