The leader of the main opposition party in Catalonia, Salvador Illa, believes that the Government does not work hard enough nor does it have the minimum unity necessary to face the challenges facing Catalonia, and there are many, as he quoted in a conference at the Equestrian Circle of Barcelona. Projects such as the expansion of the airport, the candidacy for the 2030 Winter Olympics, the consensus on Catalan, citizen security, the recovery of the influence in Europe that Catalonia had with presidents such as Jordi Pujol, Pasqual Maragall or José Montilla, he cited, or regional financing.
Within the framework of a new session of the cycle 'Agendas Cruzadas Madrid – Barcelona', Illa made a negative assessment of the year of government of Pere Aragonès: "In almost all the chapters it could be improved. It is a divided Government, it must be confirmed, and it lacks sufficient energy and cohesion to face the challenges" facing Catalonia.
The leader of the PSC made firewood of the "competition" that in his opinion exists between the partners of the Catalan Executive -ERC and Junts- which, according to what he said, ends up having consequences for the viability of these challenges. Unlike the competition that he accepted that also exists between the partners of the central government -PSOE and United We Can-, but which has not prevented the last general budgets of the State from being approved in a timely manner, six states of alarm will be carried out in Congress and a pandemic has been "overcome", he made a difference.
"And what is the balance here? Illa questioned rhetorically. And according to the leader of the PSC, the "Government is not doing things well, it is not working", while his party has insisted on "building a alternative" that does not prevent him from "reaching an agreement" with the Catalan Executive and the parties that support it.
Illa has given examples of the many opportunities that, in her opinion, the Government of the Generalitat is leaving behind as a result of this inaction. He used the announcement of the opening of a Korean battery component factory in Mont-roig del Camp (Tarragona), whose investment will be around 600 million and will create more than 500 jobs, to point out that "it is an exception". This investment will be possible thanks to the collaboration of the municipality's council, the Government and the central government, which shows that "when you work collaboratively, discreetly and effectively", results are achieved. But "this is not the general guideline of the Government," he lamented.
The socialist justified his criticism with the frustrated extension of the El Prat airport, or the compromised candidacy of the Olympic Games. of winter, in which "we started dragging our feet", although he now recognizes that the Government "is working well". But there are, in his opinion, many other challenges in which we still have to get our act together, such as European funds, renewable energies or the delay of up to eight months in the collection of services by the third sector, as he cited.
Illa also demanded that the Government recover the European agenda, which had fallen into disrepair during the years of the 'procés'. "We have to recover our presence in Europe because Pujol had weight in Europe, and Maragall, and Montilla too. Do we have weight now?" He questioned. The socialist leader rejected that the central government had any responsibility for this scant role for Catalonia: "I do not agree. When we have wanted we have had weight, and it has been our merit. Now we have what we have harvested for a few years, which have not been good for Catalonia, settled.
The head of the opposition added to his arguments the empty chair policy that Aragonès has carried out in his first year, which has made him absent from important regional forums and neglect the debate on regional financing. Although the central government does not seem to be in favor of opening this melon, Illa lectured the Catalan president on the need to "offer a horizon to Catalan society", which may well be the possibility of achieving new "adequate financing".
But "we have been absent", while "there are many autonomies that have concrete proposals", he lamented. The socialist bets on a proposal "without privileges" in which his party is working, but prioritizes the need to, at least, "be seated where one should be seated."
Another of the folders in which Illa believes that the Government is not doing well is citizen security. Faced with the growing concern that he detects in the municipalities on this matter, the Government "is applying the CUP's policy," he criticized. In this matter he insisted that "the Mossos cannot be delegitimized", as in his opinion the Aragonès Executive is doing.
Illa also spoke of Catalan on the day that three of the four parties that signed the agreement to reform the Language Policy Law (PSC, ERC and En Comú Podem) have decided to give Junts an ultimatum to return to that agreement. The first secretary of the PSC warned of the "mistake" of losing the consensus initially reached between the four parties but avoided making blood of what happened in recent months: "I have bitten my tongue a lot in recent weeks and I will do it today because it is at stake a very important thing," he said, although he could not resist accusing Junts of a lack of "seriousness."
In Catalan, Illa believes that the Government has had plenty of time to do something, because the first court ruling that requires the implementation of 25% Spanish in the classrooms is from 2014. "And in all this time they have not done anything" , he accused.
Now there are decisive days to prevent the percentages from ruling in the pedagogical field, for which he called on the PP to also join the agreement, recognizing them on this issue "a very brave position." In fact, "Feijóo is no stranger to the reality of territories with their own language," he recalled.
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