The commons state that they are not starting from scratch and that is why they believe that their results will be very different from those of Sumar in the elections in the Basque Country. Appealing to the roots of her training in Catalonia, the Comuns Sumar candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, Jéssica Albiach, separated both scenarios this Monday. “It is another context, the situation is different,” she remarked at the Nueva Economía Forum after Sumar obtained representation in the Basque Parliament but with only one seat.
“It is not the result we want, it is not a good result,” he said to assess the electoral outcome of his Basque colleagues. Now, he has justified that “in many territories the challenge was simply to enter; and in the Basque Country it has been done.” For her, the difference between the Basque and Catalan elections is that in Euskadi “there was no rooted existing force” as is the case in Catalonia. “It’s another experience, and that’s what the surveys say,” she reiterated.
“The reality that may exist in Catalonia, in Madrid or in the Valencian Country has nothing to do with other territories because there are pre-existing forces,” he stressed. In Galicia, where they also started from scratch, they did not win a single deputy. “In the commons we have people from different parties. It is a wealth,” added the candidate from the political space who has held the mayor’s office of Barcelona for two terms and who is heir to the old ICV.
Furthermore, as she has done on more than one occasion in recent days, she has once again praised the decision of Podem, the party from which she comes, not to stand for election to the Parliament, thus avoiding the fragmentation of the vote. In the Basque Country, Podemos did present itself. All in all, according to Albiach, Comuns Sumar will be a “determining force for the next Government of Catalonia.”
On the other hand, as the commons have been doing in the different controversies about this model, Albiach has once again defended linguistic immersion in the educational system of Catalonia and has opted to “renew the agreement” around it by rejecting other dual models. network or trilingual.
For Comuns Sumar, the problem of Catalan is in its “social use” and not in schools. For this reason, within a new cultural rights law that they have proposed they include “guaranteeing that Catalan has the necessary resources” for its promotion and reinforcement. A new regulation that also aims to guarantee minors’ access to extracurricular activities related to artistic disciplines, access to culture and the working conditions of professionals in the sector.
Among other measures, they have proposed strengthening the network of libraries and museums and the heritage law to include cultural landscapes and industrial heritage. To this end, they have proposed that 2% of the Generalitat’s budget be allocated to the cultural sector. “Culture must be an economic engine,” Albiach stressed.
“Catalonia will continue to be mestizo, no matter who it is,” Albiach responded when asked about the rise of far-right speeches and the possible entry of Aliança Catalana into the Parliament of Catalonia. In this sense, she has proposed a “democratic cordon” to avoid pacts with the party led by the mayor of Ripoll, Sílvia Orriols, as was already done with Vox.
Albiach has argued that “17% of the population of Catalonia is newcomer and 17% of the population that contributes to social security as well.” In this sense, he has stated these people “come to work, to build the country and they are supporting it.” According to her, what needs to be done is “manage diversity well.” “It’s not just a question of pragmatism, it’s also a question of values,” she added. “Catalonia has always been a welcoming country,” the candidate concluded.
