BarcelonaThis Thursday was supposed to be a day with an intense agenda for the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa. The meeting at the Palau was scheduled with the president of Òmnium Cultural, Xavier Antich, and the president of Societat Civil Catalana, Elda Mata. With Spanishism and sovereignty, from a president who assures that he wants to lead “the Government of everyone” and that, while he winks at Pujolist Catalanism and embraces Tarradellism, he also wants to have consideration for to those who until two years ago were companions in demonstrations and colloquia in the fight against the Process. Finally, however, Òmnium has stopped the president at the last minute citing agenda reasons and has only been able to meet with Societat Civil Catalana (SCC), which has returned to the Generalitat after eight years, with the meeting that maintain with former president Carles Puigdemont in 2016.
The unionist delegation led by the president of the entity, Elda Mata, and its vice-president, Àlex Ramos, has come to lend a hand to the president in this new stage. “We want to thank the cordiality with which President Illa has received us with the interest of hearing what SCC wants to express”, assured Mata, in a subsequent press conference, in which he explained the request of “respect for constitutional rights” . “We will continue to be critical when it is appropriate, but there are things that are being done well, the institutional loyalty and the gestures that have been made”, he added, taking into account that the conversation has been “more open” than the that they had with “nationalist” presidents. Precisely, they see that this is a key moment to build a different Catalonia, without the identity drive that Jordi Pujol’s executives lament. In fact, the organization gives a margin of confidence to Illa, as explained by the ARA, with whom they still trust, and they declined to participate in the call for the Spanish demonstration on 12-O or the subsequent tents because of the profile ” too negative.”
Both Omnium and SCC had requested the meeting, after the change of government. While Omnium’s concerns are to resolve the political conflict, the Spanish organization has called for a commitment to bilingualism and to leave behind the “decline” of “nationalist policies”, as it reiterated in the subsequent press conference. Instead, the president has placed the meeting in the framework of a wide round of contacts with entities, after he has met with former presidents of the Generalitat, the presidents of the provincial councils and with several ministers such as Félix Bolaños, in more from the president of the Congress, Francina Armengol. On November 22, Illa will meet with the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez.
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Civil Society aims to “influence” the Government through the institutional route, without transferring the pressure to the streets. “It is a great opportunity and a great responsibility for President Illa”, said Mata, who also conveyed to Illa the frontal rejection of amnesty, singular financing and linguistic immersion, to which they attribute “an important part of school failure. The Government’s policy in education and in external delegations, with councilor Jaume Duch – at the behest of the entity – will also be one of the topics they will want to monitor.
