The leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, has warned the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont that he is not entitled to “speak on behalf of Catalonia” after hearing his conditions to negotiate a possible investiture by Pedro Sánchez. The socialist leader hides behind the electoral results of the last elections, especially those of 23-J, in which the PSC resoundingly prevailed over the rest with 19 seats, 13 more than those harvested by the PP and 12 more than the achieved by Junts and ERC, respectively. Before this negotiation, Illa has promised “all the generosity that is necessary”, but “not naivety”.
Coinciding with the start of the school year, the first secretary of the Catalan socialists has appeared at a press conference on his visit to the Àngels Alemany i Boris School in Lloret de Mar (Girona), where he has been asked about the conditions of JxCat for the investiture, established yesterday in Brussels by the former Catalan president. Illa has not wanted to get out of the script, demanding “prudence, patience, discretion and the Constitution. Nothing outside the Constitution”, so she has not wanted to get wet on the “prior” conditions pointed out by Puigdemont, among which are amnesty, the recognition and respect for the “democratic legitimacy” of the independence movement and the creation of a mechanism to verify the agreements.
But it has launched two notices to the expresident. The first, that the Socialists will be generous but not naive in the face of the depth of their demands, and that Puigdemont should be prudent when speaking on behalf of all of Catalonia, which is understood as a response to their demand for a binding referendum agreed with the state.
“Generosity, yes, all that is necessary. Ingenuity, no,” Illa pointed out, recalling, as an example of that generosity, the transfer of socialist deputies to JxCat so that they can set up their own parliamentary group in Congress, out of “courtesy parliamentarian”.
Regarding the demand for the referendum, the leader of the PSC has recalled the electoral results to reply that Catalonia is “plural”. “It would be convenient not to lose sight of what the citizens voted on 23-J,” he warned, because “they voted no for a right-wing and ultra-right government and they voted yes for a progressive government, and they said that it was up to Pedro Sánchez to lead it” . These three conclusions “were resoundingly manifest” in Catalonia, and “it is convenient that no one forget this and that the will of the citizens be respected”, he stressed.
In any case, Illa has assured that any step taken regarding the negotiations with Junts will have as its objective “coexistence”, an objective on which the socialists “will continue working” with “brave” approaches, he has accepted, because ” coexistence in Catalonia deserves everything.”
Regarding the criticism that the amnesty generates among certain socialist voices, such as that of Felipe González, the leader of the PSC has avoided fueling any type of controversy, expressing “all respect for González’s thoughts and what he said”, and “all opinions, also yours.
