The Government of the Generalitat has called on the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, for “courage” and “to make a move” in the negotiations that the PSOE must hold with the pro-independence parties if it wants their support for a new investiture, has assured the spokesperson for the Government, Patrícia Plaja. “Immobilism will not take you to Moncloa”, she stressed, at the press conference in which she reported on the agreements of the Catalan Executive at its weekly meeting on Tuesdays.
Plaja began his speech with an assessment of the results of the general elections on Sunday, in which he attributed the loss of votes for the pro-independence groups, and in particular for the ERC, to an outside issue. “The high polarization in the Spanish code has harmed the independence movement”, assured the Government spokesperson, who nevertheless pointed out that “we must reflect and find the reasons” for this “drop in the independence vote”, an issue that has been transferred to the parties.
Plaja has preferred to emphasize that “independence has the key” to the investiture in the new Spanish legislature. “If Pedro Sánchez wants to be invested again, he has to be brave, make a move and listen to the claims of ERC and Junts”, he pointed out. “Those who would like an irrelevant independence movement have found that Catalonia and the independence movement have the key and the strength for the investiture and those who want an agreement are obliged to listen and negotiate. Without respecting Catalonia and its voice there will be no government ”, she underlined.
The Government spokeswoman has also flatly ruled out that the poor results of ERC in the general elections, in which it has lost 400,000 votes and has been left with seven of the thirteen seats they had in the last legislature, will have consequences on the continuity of the Executive of Pere Aragonès. “Catalonia needs stability. The Government does not have a majority but it has concrete results, two consecutive budgets have been approved and the macroeconomic data is very good. There will be no electoral advance. Catalan policy is not conditioned by the policy of the Spanish Government”, Plaja stressed.
In this line, the spokesperson has also validated the strategy of the Government of the Generalitat to negotiate with the Government of Spain and has highlighted “the very important advances” of the dialogue table between governments, among which she has cited the pardons to the leaders of 1-O and the repeal of the crime of sedition. “There is still a long way to go but the electoral results have once again given the independence supporters the strength to continue advancing in this direction,” she confirmed.
Plaja has also called for the unity of the independentistas and has assured that the results of 23-J are a sign of the strength of this unity.
Asked about the request of the Prosecutor’s Office to activate the Eurowarrant against the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont, Plaja pointed out that “it is obvious that it is the first movement after the elections and it is his way of wanting to influence the negotiation for the investiture” and has transferred “all the support” of the Government to Puigdemont.