The cornerstone of En Comú Podemos in the face of the general elections is its ability to bring votes from Catalonia to Yolanda Díaz’s project and, for this reason, the commons are appealing to their service sheet in the legislature that is about to expire. “Since we have been in the central government, we have started to comply with Catalonia”, sums up the president of the parliamentary group, Jéssica Albiach. And “we’ve seen it with de-judicialisation, with Rodalies” and with the fact that thanks to the coalition government “there is a more stable, empathetic and profitable relationship with Catalonia”.
Already installed in the final stretch of the electoral campaign, the leader warned that Catalonia “will not face its major challenges better with a PP and Vox government” because “it will be a government against Catalonia”. And she gave as examples the pacts of the two formations after the municipal elections, which make her think that a government of both will not bring “prosperity” or “freedom”, but “more tension”.
Albiach took part yesterday in a new edition of the Barcelona Tribuna, organized by the Barcelonesa Economic Society of Friends of the Country, chaired by Miquel Roca, in which he recalled that in the autonomies where the right-wing governs they act “against everything that the remember or hear them in Catalonia”. Therefore, “let’s be clear that a PP and Vox government is a government against Catalonia”, unlike the current coalition Executive, he compared.
For this reason, the next elections are for Albiach “an opportunity” and, if we want a strong Catalonia, we also need allies in the central government”, he opined.
Nevertheless, the electoral struggle between the left makes the commons point out the differences with their “traveling companion”, the PSOE, which, according to Albiach, “has many souls”, including one “conservative”, personified in the Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, and exemplified it with measures such as the ERTE, the trans law, the update of pensions or the repeal of the crime of sedition. Measures in which the commons claim that Unides Podemos acted as a catalyst in the face of the PSOE’s initial reluctance.
Faced with the “immobilist” soul of the PSOE and an ERC that “mistakes the opponent when it points to Yolanda Díaz and not Vox, and mistakes the ally when it looks towards Junts”, Albiach brought water to his mill by assuring that Díaz “understands plurinationality like no one else”, which is “the basis for a prosperous and diverse State”, he pointed out.
Plurinationality is the axis on which the territorial relationship of the State is based, recognized by the Constitution, as Roca recalled, but Albiach advocated for a federal State in the face of the “past and expired” autonomic model. This State would be “formed by the nations that freely decide to be part of this Spain”, but with more powers for the federated states.
“We want to protect our language, the management of ports and airports, and for Catalonia to be recognized as a nation. And we are convinced that we will end up seeing it in a vote in Congress”, predicted Albiach.
According to the leader, Catalonia “is not in decline”, but it does face major challenges, such as high poverty and social exclusion, deficiencies in public health, education, or in the implementation of renewable energies. Faced with many of these challenges, the commons warn that “it is the era of the green economy” as opposed to the “climate denialism of the PP and Vox that would lead us to ruin”.
But this climate consciousness also collides with the socialists in Catalonia, in projects such as the expansion of El Prat airport or the B-40. Albiach considered it “perverse” to establish a dichotomy between environmentalism and progress, because “we will not have progress if it is not green”, and accepted that the capacity of the airport can be expanded, but within the current limits. “Barcelona does not accept more tourism, because the tourists themselves say that there are already too many visitors when they come”, he warned.
Sumar is also appearing in the elections with colorful proposals, such as reducing the working day to 37.5 hours or the so-called universal inheritance, intended for young people. Aware that this measure has generated confusion, perhaps because the name does not do the job, Albiach defended it as a good formula for exploiting young talent. “It’s not a blank cheque” but 20,000 euros that a young person can collect when they reach the age of 23 for a business or training project, but after a five-year accompaniment in which an itinerary is worked on, he clarified.
