The leader of the PSC and the opposition in Catalonia, Salvador Illa, says he sees no problems with PP and Junts meeting last August in Barcelona to explore a possible agreement for the investiture of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, but his assessment exudes the sarcasm and criticism of the PP.
The socialist leader applauds that “the Spanish right (the PP) and the Catalan right” speak, although he has accused them of doing so for partisan interests, to “share power,” he noted, unlike what in his opinion the PSOE negotiating the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
Illa has reproached the popular party that these contacts revealed by La Vanguardia show the distance between “what the PP says and what it does”, in reference to the criticism that Feijóo’s party has been pouring over Sánchez’s investiture agreement with the independentists.
Illa has claimed that the PSC has the possibility of meeting with all political parties except Vox, and that when it does, these contacts are public and the agreements reached are “transparent.” On the other hand, “we found out about the contacts between PP and Junts through the press.”
Furthermore, he has differentiated the contacts of the PSC and the PSOE with Junts, from those that the PP has maintained, pointing out that when Feijóo’s party and Puigdemont’s party meet they do so “thinking about power, about sharing power and about talking.” of their things, of their party interests” and not in ensuring coexistence and harmony between Catalans and Spaniards, as in his opinion the PSOE has done.
The leader of the PSC was thus referring to the approval of the amnesty law, which continues its parliamentary course and which will arrive in the Senate on January 10 for the debate on the entire law. In this sense, Illa has defined as “one more improvisation” the amendment to the entirety presented by the PP, which proposes a reform of the Penal Code to penalize the calling of referendums and proposes dissolving parties that are “disloyal” to the Constitution. For the Catalan leader, proposals like this make it increasingly difficult to distinguish the PP from Vox.
Illa has also referred to the negotiation on the Generalitat’s budget for 2024, reiterating the need to comply with what was agreed in the 2023 budget pact to start the talks and warning that “what is at stake is credibility, the word, of the president”. “What value does the president’s signature have if what was agreed is not fulfilled?” he questioned. The leader of the PSC demands that Pere Aragonès comply with the agreements regarding infrastructure, housing, education or the fight against drought or, failing that, that the president explain the status of these commitments and the temporal perspectives. to execute what was agreed.
Regarding the budgets, he has also warned the Government that there will not be an “exchange of cards” between the accounts of the State and those of the Generalitat. In this way, Illa unlinks the approval of both accounts, as ERC has suggested. It was the republican spokesperson, Raquel Sans, who in an interview with EFE assured that both budgets run “in parallel” and that the Catalans “would not understand” that the State accounts were approved but, on the other hand, those of the Generalitat did not prosper for 2024. Illa, on the other hand, denies it: “If someone thinks that there will be a change of stickers, they are very wrong and could be disappointed.”
The leader has also referred to the request of the president of the Paralement, Anna Erra, to Aragonès, who in an interview on ACN asks the president not to leave Junts aside to agree on the budgets. Illa has said he has no objection to this eventual agreement but, highlighting the parliamentary weakness of ERC, he has insisted that if the PSC is to be included there are “some minimums” that the Government has to meet. “We are not exclusive,” he pointed out, but he recalled that his is “a left-wing party”, unlike Junts.
