The president of the Generalitat and first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa, this Sunday elevated the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, as the candidate of the Catalan socialists for the general elections on November 29. A designation with which Illa intends to expand the decisive citizen support that he received in the previous elections, those of 2023. To achieve this, the leader of the Catalan formation has proposed to eat all the possible ground from Junts, on which he has unloaded for his attitude with the coalition Government, calling into question his current capacity for influence compared to what CiU once had.
At the celebration of the extraordinary national council of the PSC held at the socialist headquarters in Barcelona, Illa gave the floor to Hereu to present himself before the party leadership. However, the proposal to place the Minister of Industry and Tourism as the head of the list for Barcelona must still be ratified organically and will be made next Friday, in an ordinary national council where the faces of the rest of the members of the lists will also be known.
Along with this designation, Illa has launched a message that is especially critical of Junts, of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and ultimately, of the partnership maintained by PP and Vox both when it comes to forming a government and responding to problems such as housing. The president has been especially forceful with Carles Puigdemont's party, which after reiterating his "deep disappointment" in its refusal to support the Government's decrees on housing, has directly questioned their usefulness.
"What a huge disappointment from Junts. We Catalans deserve a clear answer to a question. I have read statements by Miriam Nogueras saying that they will not support a right-wing and extreme right-wing government, nor a left-wing government. So what are they for? If you do not aspire to govern, to influence, you do not help Catalonia advance, what are you for? What use are you?" Illa questioned.
The leader of the PSC has not stopped there. He has insisted on the idea that Junts is no longer useful to achieve progress for Catalonia as it did in its convergent era, through the 'peix al cove' strategy: "We do not send observers to Madrid, we send politicians to Madrid to resolve things for the benefit of the country and the citizens. What a great disappointment. The Catalonia of Jordi Pujol, of Miquel Roca, the one that influenced, the one that was decisive, what has it become...", he has insisted. compared.
For Illa, what happened with the housing decrees “is defining” and “places everyone on the side they have chosen.” Thus, he has established a clear dichotomy: “We, on the side of the people; others, on the side of the elites.” In other words: “Either you are with the people or with the elites,” he reduced. And although in Catalonia "there are elites", in his opinion, a part of it "never misses the opportunity to make a mistake."
The president has recognized that the trigger for the current situation is the “feeling of impunity” that exists in the population in the face of the housing crisis, but he has taken care to distinguish between the recipes that the right usually gives in the face of crises such as the financial crisis of 2008, and those that progressive governments give. After being especially critical of Ayuso, whom he has directly blamed for Maricarmen's eviction and has attributed a radical, limitless and authoritarian attitude, he has warned that "Feijóo does not deserve the support of Catalonia." "Alberto and Santiago, Catalonia is respected. You are going to respect Catalonia and you are going to do it from the opposition," he predicted.
For the president, Catalonia “will be decisive” in this new electoral battle. “The strength of the people and of Catalonia will be key,” he assured, but he has also asked his people not to lose respect and education in this race in the face of the provocations that he predicts they will suffer during the campaign.
Jordi Hereu has placed special emphasis on this role for Catalonia in his turn. "When Catalonia speaks loudly and clearly, Spain is progressive, the socialists' options win. I ask you for mobilization like never before so that Catalonia speaks more clearly and loudly for the victory of progressive Spain," the minister claimed.
