If the idea of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) is to start from scratch and forge a new joint candidacy for the 2034 Winter Games, the issue seems almost impossible for now. Yesterday, the Government came close to sending Javier Lambán, president of Aragon, to fry asparagus, but they found a similar formula: they urged him to “leave the Catalans alone” and to try to “get votes by improving the lives of the Aragonese, not spitting on Catalonia every time they put a microphone in front of him”.
The words are from the spokesperson for the Catalan Executive, Patrícia Plaja, at yesterday's press conference after the Consell Executiu. And they are as a reaction to the accusations of "supremacists" to the independentistas that Lambán uttered in the interview of La Vanguardia. “. “The word supremacist cannot be used with this lightness. There are a number of politicians who do it too often. And they all have Catalanophobia in common”, replied Plaja. The Aragonese leader also assured that independence is "lethal" for Catalonia and Spain.
But they are also as a reaction to the possibility that Lambán now raises. When everything calms down, according to what he says, he will propose a new candidacy, not only shared between Catalonia and Aragon, but adding Navarra. The Government, however, is clear that as long as Lambán is the president in Aragon there is no option for Catalonia to agree to anything with him regarding Olympic issues.
In fact, the Generalitat is focused on walking its own path. Alone. With a Catalan candidacy, either for 2030 or 2034, although the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco, ruled out a project in any format for eight years from now. Laura Vilagrà, Minister of the Presidency, stated on Monday that during the month of July she will present her proposal and that then “the COE will decide”, without ruling out that “a change of script” will take place.
Be that as it may, the Government wants to forget about Lambán, who “has already loaded the joint candidacy” for the 2030 Games, as Plaja said. “The joint candidacy has been blown up,” she expressed more graphically.
