Spain: Salvador Illa, close to Pedro Sánchez’s government, is elected new president of Catalonia

The socialist Salvador Illa was sworn in as president of Catalonia on a day marked by confusion following the escape of separatist Carlos Puigdemont upon his return to Spain after remaining on the run for seven years to avoid Spanish justice.

The incredible adventure of Puigdemont, who fled in broad daylight after participating in a separatist event and in front of the eyes of the police and the press, has not succeeded in preventing Illa’s investiture.

The election of Illa to the regional Parliament has been successful by an absolute majority with the support of the ERC republicans – former partners of Puigdemont – after two failed attempts by the former president’s party, Junts per Cataluña (JxC), to suspend the session.

The shadow of Puigdemont has hung over the debate throughout the day. The Junts leader, who faces an arrest warrant in Spain for embezzlement – a crime not contemplated in the recent amnesty law approved in Spain – had announced his return to attend the investiture of the winner of the regional elections last May.

But he had not actually planned to go to Parliament. After leading a separatist rally near the building, he vanished, almost literally, hidden in a regional police car.

A formula that he had already used in 2017, when He disappeared in the trunk of a car to avoid arrest after unilaterally declaring the independence of Catalonia.

His latest escape adds an element of tension and uncertainty to Spanish politics and creates an unusual situation that tarnishes the image of the Catalan police (the Mossos d’Esquadra), divides the independence movement and deepens the confrontation between the right and the coalition government headed by the socialist Pedro Sánchez.

A daytime getaway

“We have been persecuted for seven years for wanting to listen to the voice of the people of Catalonia,” Puigdemont told some 3,000 supporters at the event in Barcelona, ​​a far cry from the crowds he gathered in 2017, when he encouraged the idea of ​​independence.

After barely 10 minutes of speech, and surrounded by several of his collaborators, he disappeared hidden in a car that managed to escape the police chase.

We have been persecuted for seven years for wanting to listen to the voice of the people of Catalonia.

Two officers have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the escape and the police will call Jordi Turull, the secretary general of Junts, who was accompanying him in the convoy that was to take him to the regional parliament, to testify.

After the initial surprise, Hundreds of police officers have been involved in the “Cage” operation in their search, but so far they have only succeeded in blocking traffic on the main arteries of Barcelona and angering drivers, as denounced by the Spanish Consumers Association.

The Mossos, currently the target of widespread criticism, have denied any type of “prior agreement or conversation” with Puigdemont’s entourage in relation to his arrest.

Political pollution

Puigdemont’s escape has raised the tone of the national political confrontation, with harsh attacks by the opposition on the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez, who they consider responsible for the escape.

The president of the conservative Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has accused Sánchez of subjecting Spain to “unbearable humiliation” and several Popular Party leaders are urging the resignation of the head of the Executive, while the far-right Vox will denounce those who have helped “cover up” the flight.

Criticism of the former Catalan president’s performance has also come from Sumar (left), a partner of Sánchez’s government, which has lamented Puigdemont’s “theater” and “magic trick.”

The escape fuels uncertainty in national politics, as Its seven deputies in the Spanish Parliament are key to the stability of the Government.

It also opens a new chapter in Catalonia, because it deepens the internal division in Junts and the confrontation with the republicans of ERC, its former partners who now support the investiture of Illa, the first socialist president after almost 15 years of nationalist governments in the region.