The ERC president in the Parliament, Josep Maria Jové, has cast doubt on whether the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, can respect the commitments made with the republicans for his investiture following the general elections of 29 November. In light of these doubts, the socialist leader has assured that those agreements remain “intact”.
During the Government control session this Wednesday in the Parliament, Jové argued that the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has “left Illa in the lurch” with the electoral advance, thereby jeopardizing the viability of what was agreed with ERC.
“Are you aware that the electoral advance means you cannot keep the word you gave us?” Jové asked, questioning Illa’s ability to keep his promises in the new political scenario.
The republican leader also warned that if Illa is already showing himself docile towards the PSOE, uncertainty is even greater about what could happen if, in the end, the PP manages to reach the central government.
JUSTIFIES THE ELECTORAL ADVANCE
Illa defended the electoral advance, arguing that it is necessary to urgently address problems such as the housing crisis, the situation of pensions, and the protection of public services against the “involutionary bloc of PP and Vox”, as well as against those, he said, who choose to look the other way.
The president stated that he trusts that social progress and the defense of public services will continue to move forward. He reiterated that he has clear goals, based on “collaboration and not confrontation”, and he stressed: “The commitments that I have assumed before this chamber are maintained intact”.
“IN THE MIDDLE” OF INVOLUTION?
In his exchange with the president of Junts in the Parliament, Mònica Sales, Illa also referred to 29N. He criticized the stance of Carles Puigdemont’s party toward these elections, after Sales accused him of putting Spain before Catalunya.
Illa replied: “Where are you? In the middle, it says. In the middle of what? Of the involution of the PP and Vox? In the middle of continuing to move forward and make progress, as we defend the majority of progressives? Being alongside those who have protested 15 times against amnesty and want to repeal it?”
PITFALLS OF PP AND VOX
The Catalan president has also referred to the agreements between PP and Vox in the Senate. In his response to the leader of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, he has attacked the pact reached in Tarragona and Girona: "You talked to me about eclipses recently, so your party has been eclipsed, in Tarragona and in Girona. You in Tarragona, in the Senate, will vote for Vox. Curious, isn't it?"
Fernández has replied that he will vote for the PP and has added: "What I can tell you is that before voting for you, I would vote for the Cannabis Party if it were necessary".
WITHOUT RIGHT THERE IS CHAOS
The CUP deputy Laure Vega has questioned Illa about what he will do if PP and Vox win the elections and impose a legality that she considers unjust, after the president has reiterated his rejection of a self-determination referendum for Catalunya: "When PP and Vox win, if it happens, will you defend this legality? Because this is also the question of a referendum".
Illa has responded that without the rule of law you enter into chaos and that everything must be done within the legal framework: "A framework of legality that can be changed, if citizens express it that way, at the ballot box by supporting those formations that defend it".