Yesterday's decision of the ordinary annual assembly of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) to open to a candidacy only Catalan or only Aragonese if the understanding for a shared project does not bear fruit has not sat well with the Government of Aragon. The relationship between the president of the sports entity, Alejandro Blanco, and the president Javier Lambán borders on enmity and today the Minister of the Presidency of the autonomous community, Mayte Pérez, has accused Blanco of acting as a "political commissioner" of Catalonia and according to his interests, and to deceive Aragon. For this reason, the leader has demanded that he take "a step back" and withdraw as an interlocutor for the candidacy of the Olympic Games. winter 2030. That the Executive of Lambán considers that Blanco is not a valid interlocutor is not just another statement, but rather a pronouncement agreed upon after the meeting of the governing council.
For his part, Blanco, present at an event organized at the headquarters of the Spanish Olympic Committee in Madrid, on the role of sport in welcoming Ukrainian refugees, has tried to turn a deaf ear, but in the end he has not been able to avoid the controversy: " The issue of Aragon... I think he has already overcome everything, everything that can be lied about".
With the passage of time, the COE's contacts with Lambán are proving cumbersome, with recriminations on both sides, although from the Aragonese Executive they are intensifying. Just yesterday, for example, the Aragonese president criticized "the sectarian attitude" of the Olympic Committee "in favor of Catalonia". The issue seemed to reach the limit after Blanco broke off the negotiation with Lambán after rejecting a last offer at the beginning of last week that covered the demand of the president of the autonomous community to host tests in the three Aragonese valleys. He repudiated it for not being any of these alpine skiing competitions (downhill, giant, super-giant and slalom), considered queen events.
This open war only foreshadows in the General Council of Aragon that if a collaborative candidacy does not go ahead, Catalonia has a good part of the options for the project to be awarded by the COE.
The situation worsens even more for Aragon if one has that today no representative has gone to the act. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), was attended by Laura Vilagrà, Minister of the Presidency, who greeted him very briefly. In attention to the press, Vilagrà has shown the will of the Government to present a candidacy alone, as long as the collaboration with Aragón fails. "Catalonia is willing to host the Winter Games with a competitive and winning proposal", she underlined.
The Aragonese Government is not of the same opinion. Pérez has remarked that he does not contemplate the option of presenting a candidacy alone. "It does not exist," he added.
Be that as it may, Pérez has assured that Aragón has acted with "loyalty and honesty" to achieve an agreement, despite the fact that, in his opinion, Blanco "has not played fair." The head of the presidency considers that the president of the COE has defended at all times the interests of the Generalitat to give a mere role of "comparsa" to the Aragonese. Pérez has even stated that Blanco is exercising "unbearable blackmail" with his intention to present a final proposal in the coming days.
The accusations of the Aragonese Executive have not stayed here. Pérez has affirmed that Blanco is causing "a first level territorial conflict", since in his opinion "he is judge and party", instead of clearly maintaining a "conciliatory" attitude, when he should have a "conciliatory" role.
