The leader of the opposition in Catalonia, Salvador Illa, raised his voice this Sunday in favor of the Government's recipes to alleviate the consequences of the crisis that the war in Ukraine is causing, especially the increase in taxes on extraordinary benefits energy companies and financial entities, and the great fortunes. In the absence of the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez at the Festa de la Rosa del PSC, for having tested positive for covid, Illa transmitted her message, justifying the measures of the central Executive for “patriotism”, compared to the recipes of a PP that “ borders on bad faith.”
“The path to the right is the one for every man for himself. Lower taxes they say. Can someone explain to me what is patriotic about facing different territories? Is this being a patriot?” Illa questioned in his speech.
The leader of the PSC wanted to shine the leftist ideology by attacking the fiscal policy of the popular ones, which in the autonomies where he governs have initiated a tax cut, such as that of heritage in Madrid and Andalusia, to which others have joined, like deflation in personal income tax. This policy, which deliberately encourages fiscal competition between the communities (fiscal dumping), has been criticized by Illa, something that Sánchez had planned to highlight at the meeting of the Catalan socialists if he had been able to attend.
The leader of the PSC warned of the effects that, in his opinion, this competition between territories produces, linking it to the Catalan question: "We know here what effects it brings," he said. And he charged against the recipes promoted by Alberto Núñez Feijóo's parido: What patriotism is that in which the Spaniards who have the most forget those who need it the most? Not only is it not patriotic but it is bordering on bad faith, ”he accused.
Illa defended "the path to the left" to counteract the effects of the triple crisis: energy, prices and food, as opposed to the "path to the right, that of every man for himself". In the one on the left, he placed the guarantee that "no one is left behind", as in his opinion the Government of Sánchez has been doing with measures such as the increase in the Minimum Vital Income, pensions, free services such as commuter trains and now imposing taxes. temporary, like that of great fortunes. “That is true patriotism, ensuring that no one is left behind,” he noted.
But Illa also referred to Catalonia and the "paralyzing" drift of the Government of Pere Aragonès. After showing his “pride” for the commitment to reunion, the policy of respect and dialogue” that the central Executive has undertaken, he once again demanded that the Catalan president also practice it in Catalonia, with the table of parties that he has been demanding since the beginning of the legislature. “The same thing that he practices in Madrid, practice it in Catalonia with the first game of Catalonia”, he encouraged.
In a week marked by the general policy debate in Parliament and by the upcoming fifth anniversary of the 1-O referendum, Illa launched a claim against the independence movement: “It is time for reflection, not celebration. I invite you to reflect so as not to repeat mistakes, to move forward, not to go back, to seek the path of reunion”. And it is that Illa believes that 1-O represents "the most critical moment of the confrontation, of the division, of the rupture", and therefore "there is little to celebrate and much to reflect on"
The leader of the PSC preached the path of reunion, of constructive, inclusive Catalanism, of self-government, in the face of the "chronic and paralyzing conflict" that he sees in the Government due to the constant disputes between ERC and Junts. At the time, he demanded that a Parliament with a presidency with all recognized functions.
If it was not the threatening rain, it was the coronavirus that changed the plans for the great annual event of the Catalan Socialists. The Festa de la Rosa del PSC could not count on the presence of the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who publicly announced first thing in the morning that he had tested positive and would not be able to attend the annual meeting of the Catalan socialists. Instead, the Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, transmitted a message that was also critical of the fiscal policy of the PP
Cerdán defended the "fair fiscal policy" against the recipes of the PP, which are "every man for himself", he said. "His fiscal policy is a fraud against the working class of this country" and that "he only defends the powerful, now shamelessly."
