MadridThe image is unprecedented after more than a decade of planting pro-independence presidents. Salvador Illa attends this Saturday the Hispanic Day military parade in Madrid, marked by the rain that has forced the cancellation of the air parade and the parachute jump. The decision of the head of the executive of the PSC, which is part of his commitment to recover “institutional normality” after the Process, means the return fourteen years after the president of the Generalitat to the act headed by King Felipe VI . Illa is in the ranks of authorities, which has become a cluster of umbrellas, with the rest of the regional presidents – with the usual exception of the Basque Lehendakari, now Imanol Pradales. The terrestrial part of the event is being held under heavy rain which has also cut short the greeting of the king and Pedro Sánchez to the rest of the authorities.
After the parade of the armed forces through the center of Madrid, Illa will also take part in the reception organized by the monarch at the Royal Palace. Only presidents of the Socialist Government have agreed to attend the Hispanic Day parade. Before Illa, only Pasqual Maragall had participated, in 2004, becoming the first to do so, and José Montilla, in the 2007 and 2010 editions. Jordi Pujol never went, although he did attended the reception of the kings of Spain. Among the most recent presidencies, neither Artur Mas, nor Carles Puigdemont, nor Quim Torra, nor Pere Aragonès were at any of the 12-O events.
The presence of Illa comes after another one of the cords of independence was already broken in the monarchy of independence. The president of the Generalitat of the PSC certified the change of stage by meeting with Felipe VI at the Palau de la Zarzuela nine years after the last visit of a head of the Catalan executive (Artur Mas in 2015) to the residence of the monarch. “Catalonia has returned and has come to get involved in the construction of Spain in favor of all”, he proclaimed hours later at the Day event, held a week after 9/11, at the headquarters of the Generalitat in Madrid.
Before holding the position of president of the Generalitat Illa had already participated as an authority in a 12-O parade. It was in 2020 when he was Minister of Health. However, it was in one of the most atypical editions because it was in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic when the restrictions were still strict and the event could not be held in its usual format but was a smaller event in the courtyard of the Royal Palace.
