The president of the Generalitat and first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa, this Saturday appealed for broad participation in the next general elections to halt the influence, in his judgment, that international leaders such as Javier Milei, Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin exert over the PP and Vox: "If you don't go, they run things."
He delivered this message at a rally held in Sabadell (Barcelona), where he was accompanied by the minister and top candidate for Barcelona in the 29 November list, Jordi Hereu, and by the socialist mayor of the city, Marta Farrés.
Illa referred to the PSC campaign poster in which these four world leaders are shown alongside the PP and Vox leaders, Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal, and where the socialists have updated their historic 2008 slogan, "If you don't go, they go back," replacing "go back" with "run things."
He defended that in this campaign this issue should also be debated, because he believes these are "reference" leaders for Feijóo and Abascal, and he has warned that their political recipes could be applied in Spain if, after 29N, PP and Vox come to power and set the foreign agenda.
In this context, he cited examples of the situation in other countries: "What has happened in Argentina? 12-hour working days, 40% less minimum wage, more poverty than ever. Or in the United States: 'America First!' This one shouts. 'No more war!' Well, look at Iran and how energy and the cost of living are rising," he warned.
"Get yourself out of the way, Cayetana"
The socialist leader listed several areas that, in his view, could be at risk with a possible PP and Vox government, including Catalan self-government and the protection of the language, and he attacked the PP proposal to suppress the use of Catalan in the Congress, put forward by the number 2 for Madrid, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo.
Illa made light of the results obtained by Álvarez de Toledo when she led the list for Catalunya in 2019, and he addressed Feijóo in electoral terms: "Get yourself out of the way, Cayetana."
The socialist bid for housing
He also addressed the issue of housing and again criticized that the "leit motiv" of Junts in this campaign is to present themselves as the ones who stand in the middle: "In the middle you haven't been this Thursday in the Permanent Council of Deputations. You have been on one side," he pointed out, in line with the voting on housing decrees in Congress.
He has claimed the housing policies promoted by the socialists, citing as an example those of the City Hall of Sabadell: "I haven't heard Marta Farrés give housing lessons to anyone, neither to the right nor to the left. And I've heard people on the right and on the left give us housing lessons without having any idea".
Hereu: "The frustration of his life"
Jordi Hereu has also referred to the PSC poster and has insisted that, if PP and Vox end up governing, it will be the agendas of those international leaders that will set the course of Spain: "This isn't a joke about that international dimension."
He has asked Catalan voters to vote with the idea of whether or not these world leaders will celebrate Pedro Sánchez repeating as president of the Government: "Let them take the frustration of their life."
The "model" is at stake
Hereu has argued that one of the things decided on 29N is the coexistence in the neighborhoods, and has positioned the PSC as the force that defends them against those, according to him, who seek to fracture them.
"When the far right comes to divide the neighborhoods, you always find a PSC council member or a PSC mayor who tells them that they won't do it, that here we come only to work for their cohesion," he emphasized.
He added that this appointment at the ballot boxes is decisive because the progress achieved in the last 50 years is more threatened than ever: "The story of the last 50 years, to sum it up, would be: we always lead the transformations, and until now the right would follow with bad manners and dragging its feet."
Now, he has warned, the situation is different and he believes that the right, in alliance with the far right, "has decided that it will weaken it or destroy it": that is why he considers it essential to keep in mind that what is being discussed is the model as a whole.
Farrés: it's not about luck, it's "about votes"
Marta Farrés has defended that the 29N electoral contest remains open: "No one here is giving up. We'll go vote and we'll continue to have a progressive Spain," and she has assured that Catalunya is on the side of the Brazilian Lula against the Argentine Milei, on the side of the mayor Mamdani against President Trump, and on the side of Sánchez against Abascal and Feijóo.
She has stressed that to achieve that, no act of fortune is needed, but participation: "This is not about luck. It's not about strength, or about saying, well, let's see if there's a miracle. No, this is about votes, votes and votes".
He has added that it is essential to revalidate a progressive Executive because, in his view, the PP has "handed over the keys" to Vox in matters such as pensions, healthcare, education and, in particular, with regard to women's rights.
"No feminism is too much" but misogynists
For this reason, he has called for a massive mobilization of women: "We will go to vote massively for progress. In Spain there is no too much feminism. In Spain what is too much are the misogynists like them," he said, referring to PP and Vox.