The Catalan political reality, broadly speaking, does not correspond to that of the rest of Spain in this campaign. The race for the general elections on July 23 is polarized between the bloc of the right and that of the left, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo (PP) and Pedro Sánchez (PSOE). In Catalonia, the process divides and polarizes, above all, and the blocks can only be guessed when the economy or social issues come into play, as reflected in the second debate of the eight Catalan candidates, held this Tuesday night on TV3. A reissue of the one that was experienced on the first day of the campaign organized by La Vanguardia and RAC1 at the Auditorio de la Once.
Both the PSC and commons, on the one hand, and the PP and Vox, on the other, tried to take the discussion to the state battlefield, where they are playing the game of 23-J. To do this, they reciprocally sought melee with some of the issues on the agenda of the two candidates for president of the government, such as the skidding of Feijóo with the revaluation of pensions, the pacts of the popular with Vox in the Valencian Community , Extremadura and the Balearic Islands, by socialists and purples, and the law of only yes is yes, from the popular ranks.
But the debate also included recurring and hackneyed issues of the Parliament of Catalonia, such as the macro-projects –the expansion of El Prat airport, the construction of the fourth ring road and the Hard Rock tourist macro-complex in the Tarragona region– and other current ones such as the linguistic politic. Nacho Martín Blanco, candidate of the Catalan PP, defended these projects and called for an end to the "culture of no." In front he met the number one of the CUP for Barcelona, Albert Botran, and that of Sumar-En Comú Podem, Aina Vidal, who brandished environmental and climate issues to position themselves against.
Meritxell Batet, president of the Congress of Deputies, and number one of the PSC for Barcelona, and Vidal, agreed on the clothing – both were in white – and in defending the legislative milestones of the coalition Executive of PSOE and Unidas Podemos. Except in the block related to the pacts, in which Batet called for once again to concentrate the useful vote, they did not exchange any reproach and the harmony between the two was the predominant note from the first bars. The fact that both the President of the Government, Sánchez, and the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, leader of Sumar, coincided over the weekend in highlighting that if they can, they will govern together after 23-J is not trivial.
Thus, it became clear that the rival of the PSC is the PP – the one Batet attacked the most was Martín Blanco – and that the struggle between the two blocks, often in the background, in Catalonia is added to that of the pro-independence formations. for the first position in its spectrum... with an eye on the next elections to the Parliament, not only on the fight in the Congress of Deputies. But that is another story.
The republican Gabriel Rufián vindicated the pardons to the leaders of the procés again – before this campaign the republicans did not do it – and the strategy of negotiating with the central government, while the leader of Junts in Madrid, Míriam Nogueras, like the anti-capitalists , questioned the results of his negotiations with Moncloa.
The common front is claimed by both Junts and Esquerra, each one for different things and without agreeing on how to articulate it or what it is for. The demand for unity is always accompanied by mutual reproaches between the two ex-partners of the Government of the Generalitat, trapped in a dialogue of the deaf in this regard. Not surprisingly, the two formations are competing for the same electorate... and the CUP is also trying to put its head there.
Nogueras demanded from Rufián, who is speaking in this campaign about raising the price for a hypothetical investiture of the PSOE, the commitment not to invest any president who does not transfer powers to Catalonia to organize a self-determination referendum, but he did not receive any response from the Republican . Batet, for his part, puffed up his chest for the pardons and the strategy that he attributes to Sánchez, and made the popular disgraceful that "the social and territorial fracture" grows with them and that this affects the economy. And if you talk about the economy, Junts talks, above all, about the fiscal deficit and the low budget execution of the Government.
Regarding the procés, Rufián assured that the policies of the Socialists have come forced by them, and asked both Nogueras and Botran what alternatives they have to their strategy. And in that troubled river, the PDECat-Espai CiU candidate pointed out that his positions were not realistic and questioned the other pro-sovereignty forces what they will do in the next four years.
Be that as it may, in a polarized campaign between Sánchez and Feijóo, the only one willing to play both sides in the fight for the blocks is Espai CiU, with its slogan of "respect Catalonia and go through the cashier" and the flag of the peix al cove . Although its candidate, Roger Montañola, was close to the positions of the PP in terms of taxes and fiscal pressure –he asked to lower personal income tax and eliminate taxes such as inheritance, donations or patrimony–, and other issues such as private property and occupations, etc. he left the door open to also sit down with the socialists and with Sumar. The only red line was placed on the Vox candidate, Juan José Aizcorbe, whom no one questioned except to reproach him for his formation policies.
In addition, the CUP candidate had a scuffle with the moderator, Ariadna Oltra, when trying to talk about the situation of Catalan instead of the economy in the second block. In the end, the immersion and the language issue were dealt with later. But the journalist had to scold the candidates several times for not respecting the speaking turns and stepping on each other with their interventions. She even threatened Gabriel Rufián with turning off his microphone when he had already exceeded the time and continued to interrupt other candidates.
Initially, in the debate, instead of asking each candidate a question as is done on other occasions, the candidates had to throw a question to another leader, chosen by lot, with 30 seconds to ask and one minute to answer. Ruffian asked Botran; Batet to Vidal –with reproach to ERC more than a question addressed to the commons–; Vidal to Montanola; Montañola to Batet; Nogueras to Aizcorbe –he refused to ask him–; Martin Blanco to Nogueras; Botran to Martin Blanco; and Aizcorbe to Rufián.
On the other hand, the Republican, outgoing, had an argument with Martín Blanco when trying to deliver a magazine in Catalan, Camacuc, vetoed by Vox in Borriana, a town in Castellón. He also offered it to Aizcorbe, as he already did with Iván Espinosa de los Monteros (Vox) and Cuca Gamarra (PP) on TVE a few days ago. "No one will ever give me lessons in respect for the Catalan language," snapped the popular leader, who rejected the magazine and later starred in a clash with Montañola. Martín Blanco accused him of being a sovereignist until a few days ago and the number one of Espai CiU reminded him that he has just jumped from Ciudadanos now that he is in low hours.
Another of the anecdotes came when the PP attacked PSC and commons by the law of only yes is yes. As already happened in the TVE debate with seven spokespersons last week, the Republican came out in defense of the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, who was in an act with the Government last week.
In short, in the debate, the candidates dedicated themselves more to seeking the vote of the parties with which they share a border and trying to place the messages that they repeat every day in this campaign, rather than confronting ideas and proposals.
