This is not just any European campaign. It is not because of the importance it has for the president Pedro Sanchezwho has presented it as a melee with the right and the extreme right, and it is not like that either for a Salvador Illa who has ahead of him the challenge of becoming president of the Generalitat. So the leader of the PSC has chosen to take control of the race by getting involved daily in the rallies alongside the Catalan candidates, Javi Lopez y Laura Ballarín; and it will do so with a lesser presence of the head of the Government, who was deeply involved in the Catalans.
There are two objectives that Illa currently has after having won decisively on May 12: for Catalonia to become once again voting ground for the PSOE and project himself as the inevitable futuro president adding the fifth consecutive victory in three years. In fact, the campaign will take place in two dimensions, since beyond what each leader says at the electoral lectern, behind the scenes they will try to reach a agreement that involves ERC or Junts. The first cotton test on whether this is possible will be on the 10th – the day after the European elections – with the vote of the presidency and the Parliament Bureau.
The impact of the amnesty
But in between there are also other designated dates that can impact the course of both the negotiations and the campaign, such as the approval of the amnesty on the 30th and how it can affect the return of Carles Puigdemontor the Junts candidate in these elections, the ‘ex-conseller’ Toni Comin. Waiting for what happens, after having become omnipresent in recent weeks in Catalonia and taking advantage of the profits that the dejudicialization strategy has given, Sánchez will this time have a more discreet role in Catalan territory.
For now, his presence has not been announced at any rally in Catalonia beyond the fact that on Friday, the first day of the campaign, he will participate in a colloquium at the Economics Circle in Sitges. Of the five main events that the president has scheduled, two of them are in Andalusia. However, the PSC leaves it up in the air that, finally, Sánchez will attend some event with the aim of, as he already did in the Catalan elections, raise the vote in the Metropolitan areagreat socialist fiefdom.
Win against the independence movement… and make an agreement with it
They also count on the state candidate, Teresa Ribera, come to Catalonia, although the date has yet to be determined. And what is already closed is the participation of the socialist candidate to the European Commission, Nicolas Schmitnext Monday, and that of the Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, this Friday afternoon. His figure is important in the defense of Catalan as an official language in the European Union, one of the agreements that were closed with the independentists and that has yet to be fulfilled. However, Illa will be the great protagonistwhich will once again focus on the Red belt.
Following the state line of argument, the PSC will present these elections as a “dilemma between moving forward or going backward” and, paraphrasing Sánchez, in a new contest for “for the feet of those who muddy politics”. That is, to PP and Vox. As an axis of the campaign they will also have the role of the European project in Catalonia in terms of social rights, for a “just” ecological transition and for women’s rights. When opposing the independence movement, Illa has always argued that it is time to strengthen ties with a model of federal relationship with Spain and also with Europe. Now he has the challenge of winning over ERC and Junts again and, at the same time, reaching an agreement with them.
2024-05-23 05:29:49
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