The absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Meritxell Serret, at the European Week of Regions and Cities held in Brussels since Monday contrasts with the presence of other leaders such as mayors – some Catalan – and even all regional presidents, such as Isabel Díaz Ayuso. And this absence serves to demonstrate the “improved” management of the Catalan Executive, as the head of the opposition in Catalonia, Salvador Illa, described yesterday.
The leader of the PSC, who was closing his trip to the community capital yesterday, where he had meetings with the Internal Market commissioner, Thierry Breton; the vice-president of the Eurochamber, Marc Angel, and the president of the European Committee of the Regions, Vasco Cordeiro, warned of the shortcomings that in their opinion suffer from this external action of the Government, which should be “more oriented towards the generation of prosperity” of Catalonia, he assured. “Like almost everything this Government does, it can be improved”, he finished.
From the headquarters of the European Socialist Party, Illa said that through his trips abroad, in which he always visits the corresponding Government delegation, that he misses a management focused on improving the problems facing Catalonia. As a counterpoint, the leader of the PSC assures that in his trips he always has as a premise “to speak well of Catalonia and Spain”, always “within the limits of the Statute”.
Despite the absence of the Catalan Government at the European regional meeting, Councilor Serret announced on Tuesday the creation of a professional diplomatic body to deploy international action. The leader justifies the measure by the “need to retain talent” and to “find profiles adapted in relation to the external action of the Government”. This measure will be translated into a draft law that will have to pass the filter of the Parliament, and which the socialists welcome with reservations. “We will analyze it and study it”, Illa pointed out, but the external action of the Generalitat “must be respectful and must move within the limits (…) reflected in the Statute”, he insisted.
Socialists consider that in Brussels there are many issues that affect Catalonia in which the Catalan Government is not present.
