After the emotional carousel of the last few days, on the occasion of Pedro Sánchez’s decision on his continuity at the head of the central government, the PSC is breathing a sigh of relief but without knowing for sure what the repercussion of the case will be for its electoral interests. There is a disparity of opinions on this issue, but they are clear that there have been enough emotions and that now it is time to return to rationality, to the socialist campaign script, which places “food matters” and the quality of public services at the center of the debate.
The PSC wants to make a clean slate after the events surrounding Sánchez, but the president will land tomorrow Thursday in Sant Boi de Llobregat to participate in the first campaign meeting of the Catalan socialists, which will be followed by another Saturday in Montmeló also with his presence .
Illa was “delighted” that Sánchez is joining the PSC campaign and claimed the Government’s “positive” policies for Catalonia, but, far from fueling the debate that caused the president’s reflection period, yesterday he claimed the “rational policy based on broad agreements”, which excludes formations that promote “hate speech”.
The candidate expressed himself thus in the presentation of the SI platform – a reference to the initials of his name -, which brings together personalities from the civil society of Catalonia and from abroad around a manifesto of support for the leader’s candidacy of the PSC. Illa thanked the support received and defended his party’s will to “go beyond” its own acronyms and to “open up to people of different sensibilities”, as the list of memberships in the platform “People with different ways of thinking, but who think that in Catalonia, these last ten years, things have not gone well”, he summarized.
The SI manifesto calls for a government “that works, that faces the problems that have been ignored, that is able to do well what has been done wrong, that practices close collaboration with all administrations, especially with the councils”; therefore, concludes the text, “we are convinced that now Salvador Illa is suitable”.
The signatories include personalities from culture, science, law, the university or the arts, and names such as Josep Maria Bricall, ex-rector of the UB and councilor of governance in the Tarradellas government; filmmaker Isabel Coixet; the actresses Núria Espert and Mónica Randall; Professor Victoria Camps; the lawyer Josep López de Lerma; the artist and designer Javier Mariscal; the actor Roger Pera; the journalist Jorge Javier Vázquez, or the singer Joan Manuel Serrat, among others. The manifesto is also signed by personalities from the international political sphere, such as the former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa or the Commissioner for Labor and Social Rights and PSE candidate for the European Commission, Nicolas Schmit.
Illa also went yesterday afternoon to the Bellvitge neighborhood of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, an indisputable socialist stronghold. With Mayor Núria Marín, who lashed out against the “unfulfilled promises” of the ERC Government in her municipality, the PSC candidate put aside the debate surrounding Sánchez and opted to “recover a self-government that demands policies public” in Catalonia “and participate actively in the improvement of Spain”. In other words, “everyone to vote!”, he encouraged.
