Chance has played in favor of the PSC. The Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya decided in November to hold the XV Congress this weekend in March under the motto Now it’s Catalonia’s turn and the early electoral call on May 12 has come in handy. With all the polls in favor and a pacified party without the slightest fissure, Salvador Illa was elected this Saturday at the Palau de Congresos in Barcelona by acclamation of the 1,200 delegates, first secretary and candidate for the elections with the certainty that Catalonia wants to pass page of the process and that he will not suffer loss of support due to the amnesty.
Greeted with cries of “president, president”, Illa was chosen by show of hands and without a vote against in one of the massive and most placid congresses of the PSC. Supported by the leadership and the historical leaders of the party, Illa wanted to give solemnity to his appointment with a brief speech in which he evoked the figure of Tarradellas and made an appeal that the PSC must be a “calm and serene force” that has as north “a new reality and a new future.” His commitment is that Catalonia stops being known for its “complaints and victimhood”, which “divides and raises borders”, and that it stands out for “excellence” in public services. After winning in 2021 and being displaced by the independence movement, the PSC’s objective is to win and, this time, govern.
“Whether you live, wherever you come from, whatever you think, whether you are from the right, the left or the centre,” said Illa, “whether you are autonomist, federalist or independentist, whatever language you speak, whatever you feel, the first thing they are going to do is be public services.” With that message, the candidate gave clues that he wants to focus his campaign on day-to-day “things”—as former President Rodríguez Zapatero called them at the opening of the congress—and not on matters related to the sovereign axis. This Saturday, Illa did not make a direct mention of either Junts or ERC, engaged in the eternal struggle against him, nor did he reply to the criticism that the president Aragonès, who equated him to “a delegate of Moncloa.” And even less did he make references to the meeting between Junts and the PSOE in Geneva or to the commons, with whom he maintains cold relations. In fact, nothing was heard about the budgets that have declined due to the conflicting positions that PSC (in favor) and COMMONS (against) have on the Hard Rock megacasino.
Illa put the focus on public services just at a time when they are upside down in Catalonia with pending works to alleviate the worst drought in history, prison officials upset over the murder of a cook in a prison in Tarragona, with the terrible results of the Pisa report and being behind Spain in renewable energies. “We want to recover excellence in education, health, energy, infrastructure and mobility. “We want a Catalonia that makes itself heard not because it shouts louder, but because it will be an example for the excellence of public services,” she said.
We want a Catalonia that is no longer known for its “complaints and victimhood and stands out for the excellence of its public services,” says Illa.
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Completely aligned with the commitment to amnesty and dialogue led by Pedro Sánchez, the PSC is convinced that this law will not take away their support. In the 23-J campaign, Illa expressed her rejection of this measure and later modulated his position until he decidedly worked for it. Yesterday he did not mention her, but on Friday, in the presentation of the management report, he appealed to overcome these last years “without resentment, with courage and determination.” “We must have a high vision, Catalonia and Spain do not deserve to be paralyzed. “We want to turn the page and open a new chapter,” said the candidate.
According to the latest survey by the Center for Opinion Studies of the Generalitat, 60% of Catalans are in favor of the amnesty and 31% are against it. Among socialist voters, support falls according to that survey to 49% and 41% reject it. The question is whether the PSC will be able to lose the votes of disenchanted voters from Ciudadanos that it collected in 2021. The PSC believes not. In the consultation with the militancy about whether they were in favor of the coalition with Sumar and the negotiation with the independence movement, 84% of the PSC bases voted in favor, a somewhat lower percentage (87.13%) than the average for the PSOE. The party accepts that its bases accept it as a greater good, although without enthusiasm.
The PSC’s perspective is to revalidate the victory on 12-M after its success in the municipal and general elections. If this forecast comes true, the big question is whether he will be able to govern and seal a coalition with ERC. But the party calls for caution and points out that it will be vital who ends up holding hegemony within the independence movement, whether ERC or Junts. But the PSC is convinced that Catalonia is not on the 2017 stage.
An expansive 63-member executive
Salvador Illa has finalized an executive committee with 63 members, five more than those he incorporated in the extraordinary congress of 2021 that formally took over with Miquel Iceta. The first secretary wanted to demonstrate his absolute trust in Jaume Collboni, with whom he met at the Barcelona City Council years ago, just now that he is going through a delicate situation in the City Council, appointing him deputy to the first secretary and president of the council of mayors. At the same time, he has wanted to keep Miquel Iceta and Núria Marín in the presidency. The other pillars of the executive are Maria Lluïsa Moret, number two of the party and Núria Parlón as the new spokesperson for the PSC.
The delegates will approve this Sunday a political presentation that is committed to deploying the Statute, supported by the socialists that it has a path, and a new financing system that is fairer for Catalonia and in solidarity with the whole of Spain. Before Pedro Sánchez’s closing speech, the militancy will vote for the new executive that Illa wants to be continuous, but to gain muscle in case they end up governing. His number two will be María Lluïsa Moret, president of the Barcelona Provincial Council, while the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, gains weight by being named deputy to the first secretariat.
In this restructuring, Illa wanted to rehabilitate Núria Parlón, mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona), naming her spokesperson for the PSC. The mayor was out of the front row of the party since she surprisingly resigned in 2016 to fight to be first secretary and after leaving the PSOE executive in 2017 in rejection of 155. Parlón, who has absolute majorities in her municipality and widely defeated Gabriel Rufián, will maintain the security area, key for the PSC to avoid losing voters to the right. Miquel Iceta, permanent ambassador delegate of UNESCO in Paris, constantly requested by the militants to take a photo with him, who did not stop repeating as president of the PSC, and Meritxell Batet, former president of the Congress, will be the president of the National Council.
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