Faced with the "noise" of the opposition, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, puffed up his chest this Sunday during his lightning visit to Catalonia due to the economic data they handle at Moncloa in the final stretch of a legislature marked first by the pandemic and then because of the war in Ukraine and because of the pension reform "agreed with Europe" that the Congress of Deputies approved this week.
The head of the central Executive, recently arrived from an express trip to China, has exhibited in his speech the economic figures on issues such as employment, inflation and growth. "Is it possible to overcome a pandemic and in the midst of war grow and create jobs? Is it possible to reduce inflation and at the same time balance the State's accounts? Can a labor and pension reform be carried out and preserve social peace?" , asked the President of the Government, only to remark that "yes it is possible" and that "this is the Spain of today".
"More and better jobs, today's pensions go up and we guarantee those of the future, we have the lowest inflation and the cheapest energy in Europe, the deficit is reduced and we have social peace", continued Sánchez, who made references to the opposition and the PP. "Not all the noise in the world can hide reality. Even if they use shamans and televangelists," added Sánchez, who stated that "much remains to be done." In the elections on May 28, he has called for "choosing between governments that focus on a privileged minority or the social majority."
Before closing the municipal convention of the Catalan socialists, which started on Monday, the President of the Government visited with the Minister for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, and the Government delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto, a stretch of the B-40, between Olesa de Montserrat and Viladecavalls, which will soon be in operation in full conflict with the Generalitat over the layout and financing of the infrastructure. The minister assures that the conversations between administrations for the B-40, agreed by the Government of Pere Aragonès and the PSC in the budget agreement, "advance", while the Generalitat denounces that the proposals that come from the ministry "do not fit what was agreed".
The mayoress of the city and president of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Núria Marín, has acted as hostess and opening act. In his speech, he put his finger in the eye of the Government of the Generalitat for issues such as occupations, residences or drought, a matter on which the first secretary of the PSC and head of the opposition in the Parliament, Salvador Illa.
"In terms of security we need the Generalitat, we need more troops, more Mossos d'Esquadra," said the socialist leader. "I would like Minister Joan Ignasi Elena to ask himself a question: how is it possible that more than half of the occupations in Spain are in Catalonia? Is it because his Ministry is not carrying out the policy that Catalonia needs? Is your Ministry closer to what the CUP thinks than what the citizens think?", questioned Marín, who has demanded the Catalan Executive and the head of the Interior to "work tirelessly to put an end to the criminal and mafia occupations that generate so many problems in the communities and in neighborhoods.
Marín has also demanded that the Government invest in education, health, security... and that it invest in residences. "It doesn't matter who wins the municipal elections, we need residences," he said, alluding to the controversy between Gabriel Rufián and the Minister of Social Rights, Carles Campuzano, in Santa Coloma de Gramenet. "We need a Government that puts Catalonia in motion and that sees the municipalities as allies and does not blame us for their mistakes and their lack of management," Marín remarked. "They only look at the municipalities to impose sanctions, we are seeing it with the drought. This is not how Catalonia is governed," he concluded.
In his speech, the head of the opposition in Parliament, Illa, remarked to the Junts leader, Laura Borràs, that "there are no excuses for corruption", after her recent conviction in the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia for the crimes of prevarication and documentary falsification. "There are no excuses for corruption, theirs is not about defending everyone's ideas. Theirs is about those who use the institutions for their own benefit instead of using them to improve the common good," said the leader of the psc.
Regarding the drought, Illa has considered "a serious mistake not having the municipalities." "The city councils are not the pawns of the king, the Generalitat, on the chessboard of Catalan politics", he added. "It is not about putting pressure on the town councils but about helping the town councils", he has sentenced.
The candidate for mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, for his part, has put the mayoress of the Catalan capital, Ada Colau, and the candidate who leads the polls, that of Junts per Catalunya, Xavier Trias, on the spot. "Trias and Colau are the two sides of the same coin, the coins of the past and of those who have already had their chance," said Collboni.
He has accused the post-convergent of cutting public services and not leaving any legacy and has asked him "what is he hiding?" and "why don't you show your party's initials?" "What is it from the most independent and radicalized party or that it has a president guilty of corruption? What makes you more ashamed?" Collboni questioned. "The change that he offers is to go back, to the worst years of the process. He is the candidate, let us not forget, of an independence party that welcomes Mrs. Ponsatí," he stressed.
Regarding Colau, with whom the Socialists govern in Barcelona, she has said that "she came to change the world, but the world has changed her" and that "she came to change the caste". "Today we have a person who has become chaste, running for the third time in elections, after years and years of asking for transparency and a new policy," the socialist candidate continued. "We have a lady who promised to solve the housing problem and today she has the most expensive house in history and that puts up barriers and expels hundreds of thousands of young people who cannot pay rent with a normal salary," he has sentenced. Likewise, he has reproached her for giving "lessons in progressive coherence" when "she had no qualms about accepting the votes of the center right, of Mr. Manuel Valls," he added. "Now she sells us green smoke in the form of a superilla. A lot of superilla, but I hold on to the chair," he exclaimed.
Throughout the week, since Monday, the PSC has debated and discussed with its candidates and cadres in various forums the key and strategic issues of the campaign for the municipal elections on May 28: public space, security, occupations, health , education and equality, among other topics. According to the organizers, some 3,000 people have gathered at the La Farga center in the second city of Catalonia.
