The head of the opposition in Catalonia, Salvador Illa, concluded his two-day trip to Brussels on Thursday to meet with different members of the community institution, including three commissioners, where he confirmed that there is still “a path for improvement” in the presence of Catalonia in Europe despite the fact that the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, has set among his objectives the recovery of that weight lost during the years of the ‘procés’.
According to Illa, who has also met with several members of the European Social Democratic family and with the new delegate of the Government in Brussels and before the EU, Ignasi Centelles, has indicated after his visit that he has been able to confirm “the importance of having a presence in Europe ” and that “there is room for improvement in the Committee of the Regions, to which we are willing to contribute”.
According to socialist sources, the presence of Catalonia in Europe in past times is “longed for”, especially the presidencies of Jordi Pujol and Pasqual Maragall, despite the fact that Illa himself applauds Aragonès’s initiative to recover the weight lost in the institutions since then, evidenced by initiatives such as the trip that the president also made to Brussels last week to meet with two other commissioners, Justice, Didier Reynders, and Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
“I have seen a lot of interest in finding out about the situation in Catalonia, which is very important in Europe”, and I will work so that it plays an important role again” and “contributes to the process of strengthening the European Union”, said the PSC leader.
In his meeting with the new delegate of the Government in the community capital, just the day the delegate was taking office for the first time, the socialist leader told him that he was going to Brussels “to speak well of Catalonia and help as much as he can”.
Illa has met with three European commissioners of a social democratic nature on this trip, the Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni: the Commissioner for International Relations and Foresight, Maroš Šef?ovi?, and the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira. Its objective is to transfer the “commitment” of Catalonia and the Socialists to European values ??in the context of the war in Ukraine and, at the same time, to present the opportunity that the use of European Next Generation funds may represent.
In the meeting with Gentolini, the economic situation and the impact of the energy crisis and inflation were discussed, as well as how to respond from Europe and with what fiscal mechanism to help companies and families. In this sense, the opportunities represented by the management of European funds have been discussed.
After these meetings, Illa confirmed that the three commissioners share a “positive perception” of the policies promoted by the Government of Spain in a context of crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
In a Catalan key, the leader of the PSC has said “sorry” for the delay in the Generalitat’s budgets that would make it impossible for them to be approved before January 1, 2023, but he has once again offered to negotiate them, assuring that “there is still time “to get them out. Before the meeting that she will have this Friday in Palau with Aragonès, Illa has assured that she will go to listen to the proposal made by the president, but she has declined any responsibility if they are not approved on time because “without negotiation we cannot commit” to approving them despite the fact that “total predisposition”.
Illa has also spoken about the open debate on the reform of the crime of sedition, to insist that this and the approval of the budgets (state or Catalan) should not be linked. “You don’t have to mix notebooks”, he has commented, although he has once again pointed out that he is in favor of carrying out the reform “when possible, when the conditions are met”.
The socialist leader has argued that “it is sensible to take into account what happened” in 2017 in Catalonia and “take into account comparative law” to reform the Penal Code, to reformulate the crime of sedition “on par with Europe”. But “it is not good to set deadlines”, but rather “do it well, not hurry and run”, he has insisted. In Cat, it would be good if Elena resigned, but it won’t occur to me to put it as a condition for the budgets. What we have to do are budget negotiations.
When assessing the anniversary of the fifth anniversary of the declaration of independence of Catalonia, Illa has opined that “Catalonia is turning the page and people want to look forward”, for which she has prescribed “seek consensus, which is what the Catalan society”. “I want to strengthen self-government, I want to unite, go forward and not backward,” she concluded.
