Ben Pawlowski
SALVADOR Illa, a former health minister and key ally of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, appears set to be named as the new President of Catalunya this week after members of the left-wing, pro-independence Esquerra Republicana (ERC) voted to endorse their party’s pact with Illa’s Socialists.
Having gained the support of the ERC and the far-left Comuns Sumar alliance, Illa will head to the Generalitat this week with 68 supporters, the exact number required to command a majority within the regional chamber and become invested as president.
53.5% of votes cast by the ERC’s members were in favour of endorsing a deal brokered between party representatives and Illa’s PSC, the Catalan branch of Sanchez’s ruling PSOE socialists.
As part of the pact, MPs from ERC will vote to support Illa’s investiture in return for several concessions.
Among them, the Catalan government will assume 100% responsibility for the collection of taxes within the region, a move described as an ‘advance towards fiscal sovereignty’.
The pact also includes the creation of a National Convention for the Resolution of the Political Conflict, a cross-party committee which will seek to resolve the Catalan independence question, a Department for Catalan Language, a new Airport Authority of Catalunya and the raising of taxes on casinos.
The move looks likely to put an end to months of uncertainty after an inconclusive regional election in May led to a frantic summer of negotiations.
Illa was one of two candidates – alongside the former president and fugitive from Spanish justice Carles Puigdemont – of the two parties who secured the most seats in the vote.
Puigdemont’s separatist Junts party won 35 seats, whilst Illa’s PSC Socialists won 42 seats, with both falling well short of the 68 seats required to form a majority.
Now Illa appears destined to reach the presidency after striking a deal with the ERC, who became kingmakers after securing 20 seats in the election.
Josep Rull, the speaker of the Catalan parliament who spent three years in prison for his role in the independence movement, will hold talks with parties on Tuesday ahead of an investiture debate which could take place on Thursday.
There, MPs will vote to approve Illa’s programme, which includes a vow to expand Barcelona’s El-Prat airport, improve the commuter rail network, invest in new highways and build over 4,000 new homes per year to solve the housing crisis.
However, plans to invest Illa as the first pro-unity Catalan president since 2010 could be derailed by the return of Puigdemont from exile.
During the election campaign, the provocative Junts leader vowed that he would attend the investiture debate in person, marking his first visit to Spain since he escaped to Belgium in the boot of a car in 2017 after the central government launched criminal charges against him for his role in the illegal referendum and unilateral declaration of independence.
However, if he returns, Puigdemont will likely be arrested after the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that the crime of misuse of public funds was not included in the amnesty law, a controversial piece of legislation introduced by Sanchez in exchange for separatist support in Congress that promised to grant amnesty to political leaders convicted for their roles in the independence movement, known in Spain as the proces.
Therefore, arrest warrants remain in force for Puigdemont, alongside fellow exiled leaders Lluis Puig and Toni Comin.
Speculation has arisen that if Puigdemont is arrested on his return, the investiture debate would be suspended.
Marta Rovira, the secretary general of the ERC, has suggested that her party could withdraw their support for Illa’s investiture if Puigdemont is detained.
