sAlvaro Illa, the socialist candidate in Sunday’s Catalan elections, promised to focus on improving public health, reactivating the economy and uniting the region after “10 lost years of growing division” caused by failed unilateral efforts to separate from the rest from Spain.
Illa, who was Spain’s health minister before stepping down last month to run for election to the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC), said the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the need to reform and invest more in the country’s health system. region and repair its economy.
“People are increasingly aware of the need for a basic agreement on how to improve and strengthen our public health system and the need to reactivate the economy so that no one is left behind and so that people can be helped to get back to work” , he said. “This needs to be done in the coming months or next year because this is a really crucial time to revive the economy and make the best use of Europe [Covid recovery] funds.”
Illa said he plans to inject 5 billion euros into the Catalan health service over the next five years, to bring in more health professionals and additional technological resources, and to strengthen the primary care system so that everyone can see a doctor within 48 hours.
“The pandemic has also shown the need for coordination between nursing homes and health centers so that they can work together,” he said. “There also needs to be a new mental health plan, because the pandemic and all the fatigue it brought exacerbated mental health problems, which is another thing we have to work on.”
Illa’s economic plans include creating 140,000 jobs in three years to help Catalonia regain its place as the region that generates the largest proportion of Spain’s GDP. “Since 2018, it has lost that to the Madrid region,” he said. “I want to work with the Spanish government on projects with European funds in the automotive, tourism and chemical engineering sectors, which are very important economic areas.”
Illa, who served as mayor of the Catalan city where he was born before entering regional and national politics, also said that swift action was needed to heal the divisions in Catalonia, which remains fairly evenly divided over independence after the illegal attempt to separation in 2017 A recent survey revealed that 47.7% of Catalans are against independence and 44.5% for.
“I want to make a change in Catalan politics after 10 lost years of growing division, growing economic decline and lost prestige,” he said, adding that he detected “a certain tiredness” in the region and a desire to open a new chapter in politics Catalan.
“To change all that, we need to get the Catalans back together, with the rest of Spain and the rest of Europe. We need to sew Catalonia back together and reunify it. “
These hopes, however, remain distant, at least politically. Polls suggest that Sunday’s election will be a close contest between the PSC and the two main pro-independence parties – the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia – while the pro-independence parties have agreed not to make deals that could help socialists in government.
Pere Aragonès, the interim president of Catalonia, who presents himself as an ERC candidate, dismisses Illa’s approach as “amnesia” and argues that his party will not “turn the page” while several independence leaders remain in prison because of his role in the condemned secession attempt.
Illa also ruled out pacts with any party whose “main objective in the government is Catalan independence … because that would be a failed government on both sides. I will never work for the government for the independence of Catalonia because I think it hurts and divides Catalonia. “
Illa’s critics and opponents questioned his way of dealing with the pandemic as Minister of Health and his decision to step down to run in Catalonia. Spain, which appears to be slowly emerging from the third wave of the virus, has recorded more than 3 million cases and almost 64,000 deaths.
“The people who are criticizing me now are the people who asked me out before I announced my candidacy,” said Illa. “As soon as I said I was running, they said I shouldn’t be going. I decided to run because my party asked me and because it is a major political problem in Catalonia and Spain ”.
He said he resigned after the vaccination process began in Spain and across Europe, and that Spain had already learned many lessons from the pandemic.
Asked what his biggest regret as health minister was, Illa said: “Looking back, I think that not only me, but all my colleagues, I regret not having acted before. But it is easy to judge with everything we have seen and with all the information we have now … Obviously, if we had known then what we know now, we would have done things much earlier. “
The former minister was criticized for refusing to do a Covid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test before a TV debate with his eight fellow candidates earlier this week. Illa said he was following health protocols, according to which a CRP test was needed only for people who had Covid’s symptoms or who were in close contact with someone with the virus. He stated that this was also not the case, adding: “As a minister of health, I have always argued that PCR tests should be done when necessary and not on a whim, so I did not do it.
On Thursday, Illa denied suggestions that he declined the test because he skipped the line to be vaccinated. “I haven’t been vaccinated and the whole of Spain knows that,” he said.