For the first time, a pro-Spanish politician is at the head of the Catalan regional government. The socialist Salvador Illa was sworn into office. His fiercest opponent is languishing in exile.
The socialist politician Salvador Illa was sworn into office as Catalan Prime Minister at a ceremony in the government palace in Barcelona. “By taking office today, I am also inheriting the hopes of the Catalan people,” said the 61-year-old, who made a name for himself as Spain’s Health Minister during the Corona pandemic. His socialist party once again became the strongest force in the early elections in May, but needs the left-wing moderate-separatist party ERC, which has so far provided the head of government, as well as the left-wing ecological alliance Comuns to govern.
On Thursday, 68 of the 135 members of the regional parliament in Barcelona voted for Illa. Spanish media viewed his election as a new beginning for the region, which has been shaken by the dispute over demands for independence for more than ten years. However, even the calm and conciliatory Illa will find it difficult to reconcile his pro-Spanish policy with the ERC’s quest for independence.
At the start of the ceremony, Illa made conciliatory statements towards his separatist predecessors. “I have no doubt that all previous presidents came into office with the best intentions to make Catalonia a better country,” he stressed, even including former regional government leader Carles Puigdemont, who is still wanted on an arrest warrant.
The separatist leader appeared in Barcelona on Thursday, shortly before Illa’s election in parliament, for the first time after almost seven years in exile. He gave a short speech to around 3,500 supporters, repeated his well-known arguments for Catalonia’s independence, even if it means fighting against the resistance of the rest of Spain, and immediately disappeared from the scene again.
After a long break from broadcasting, he returned to the X platform on Friday evening and wrote that he was back in Belgium, where he has lived most of the time since his escape in 2017. It was unknown whether and when the arrest warrant for allegations of personal gain would be lifted in Spain and Puigdemont would be able to return to his homeland in freedom. Illa called on the Spanish judiciary to apply the amnesty law passed for Catalan separatists like Puigdemont “quickly, promptly and without excuses”.
