Catalonia will be, for Sant Jordi, the center of Spanish politics given the landing of politicians who will come to Barcelona to celebrate the Day of the Book and the Rose and, incidentally, hold pre-campaign events. Because if this crowded attendance has anything to do with it, it is with the upcoming elections in May and with the policy that the coalition government has carried out in Catalonia.
Six ministers, three socialists and three from Unidas Podemos, will be in Barcelona this weekend. That of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños; that of Culture, Miquel Iceta, and that of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, for the socialist side, and the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz; the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, and the Minister of Universities, Joan Subirats, for the purple part. The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will also attend.
The presence of Iceta is mandatory, as the holder of the portfolio responsible for the literary sector. In addition, his Catalan status, like Subirats, makes his attendance in Catalonia for Sant Jordi inexcusable. But the Government will reinforce his presence with Minister Bolaños, who has led the dialogue for the normalization of relations after the process.
Bolaños lands today in Catalonia and for four days he will combine an institutional agenda with a pre-election one. In the first, he highlights his "courtesy" visit, according to ministry sources, to the Abbey of Montserrat, where he will meet Abbot Manel Gasch; Badalona City Council, and his presence at the lighting of the April Fair of Catalonia, which takes place on Friday.
In the Ministry of the Presidency they do not clarify if his stay in Catalonia will give rise to some discreet meeting with the Government, but for the moment, it is not planned, they say.
The minister will also have party events, such as a rally in El Vendrell (Tarragona), and various events with the PSC candidate for Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the leader of the Catalan formation, Salvador Illa, who will be signing his book The Year of the pandemic, in Rambla Catalunya. In addition, Bolaños will attend La Vanguardia's Sant Jordi festival on Saturday, which will take place on the eve of Sant Jordi in the city center. This event will concentrate the six ministers. Yolanda Díaz will attend after having attended, in the morning, a pre-campaign act with the mayoress of Barcelona, Ada Colau, at the Palau de Congresos de Barcelona. Minister Irene Montero will not attend that rally, given the struggle between Podemos and the second vice president for the electoral concurrence through the Sumar platform, but the Minister of Universities, Subirats, a member of En Comú Podem, an ally of Díaz in her plan to run as a unit candidate in the next general elections.
In any case, Díaz, Subirats and Montero will coincide in the Sant Jordi festival of La Vanguardia with Bolaños, Albares and Iceta.
Feijóo also lands on Friday in Catalonia and will stay for three days. Among his acts, he will cover the candidate of the PP in Castelldefels (Baix Llobregat), Manuel Reyes, and the mayor of Barcelona, Daniel Sirera.
