Salvador Illa, the Socialist candidate in the Catalan election on Sunday, has vowed to focus on improving public health care, reactivating the economy and bringing the region together after ’10 lost years of increasing divisions’ caused by failed , unilateral attempts to separate from the rest of Spain.
Illa, who served as Spanish health minister before stepping down last month to contest the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) election, said the coronavirus pandemic needed to be reviewed and more in the health system of the region to invest and to correct its economy.
“People are becoming increasingly aware of the need for basic agreement on how to improve and strengthen our public health system, and for 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. said. ‘This has to be done over the next few months or the next year, because it is a very important moment to reactivate the economy and make the best use of the European [Covid recovery] funds. ”
Illa said he plans to inject € 5 billion into the Catalan health service over the next five years, raise more health workers and extra technological resources and strengthen the primary care system so that everyone can see a doctor within 48 hours.
“The pandemic has also shown that there is a need for coordination between care centers for the elderly 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 that comes with it has exacerbated mental health problems. This is something else we need to work on.”
Illa’s economic plans include creating 140,000 jobs within three years to help Catalonia regain its place as the region that generates the bulk of Spain’s GDP. “Since 2018, it has been losing the Madrid region,” he said. “I want to work with the Spanish government on projects that use European funds in automotive, tourism and chemical engineering, all of which are very important economic areas.”
Illa, who served as mayor of the Catalan city where he was born, before moving into local and national politics, also said that quick action was needed to heal the divisions in Catalonia, which remain fairly evenly divided over independence. after the illegal attempt to secede in 2017. A recent survey found that 47.7% of Catalans are against independence, and 44.5% in favor.
“I want to bring about a change in Catalan politics after ten lost years of increasing division, increasing economic decline and lost prestige,” he said, adding that he had noticed a “certain fatigue” in the region and a desire to a new chapter in Catalan politics.
‘To change all this, we must bring Catalans back together, with the rest of Spain and with the rest of Europe. We need to reunite Catalonia and reunite it. ”
However, such hopes remain far away, at least politically. Polls suggest Sunday’s election will be a tough race between the PSC and the two main pro-independence parties – the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia – while the independence parties have agreed not to make any agreements that help the socialists in government.
Pere Aragonès, acting president of Catalonia, who is a candidate for the ERC, blames Illa’s approach as ‘memory loss’ and claims that his party will not ‘turn the page’, while several independence leaders remain in prison over their role in the doomed attempt at secession. .
Illa also excluded an agreement with any party whose “main objective in government is Catalan independence … because it would be a failed government on both sides. I will never work for the government for Catalan independence, because I think it hurts Catalonia and divide it. ‘
Illa’s critics and opponents question the handling of the pandemic as health minister and his decision to leave the post in Catalonia. Spain, which appears to be slowly emerging from the third wave of the virus, has recorded more than 3 million cases and nearly 64,000 deaths.
“The people who are criticizing me now are the people who asked me to leave before I announced my candidacy,” Illa said. “When I said I was running, they told me not to go. I decided to run because my party asked me to do so and because it is a first-order political issue in Catalonia and in Spain. ‘
He said he had resigned after the vaccination began in Spain and in Europe, and that Spain had already learned many lessons from the pandemic.
Asked what his biggest regret was as health minister, Illa said: ‘Looking back, I think not only I, but also all my colleagues, regret that I did not act earlier. But it is easy to judge with everything we have seen and with all the information we have now … It is clear that if we then knew what we know now, we would have done things much earlier. ‘
The former minister has been criticized for refusing to take a Covid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test ahead of a TV debate with his eight fellow candidates earlier this week. Illa said he followed the health protocols, namely that a PCR test is only needed for people who have Covid symptoms or have been in close contact with someone with the virus. He said this was not the case, adding: ‘As Minister of Health I have always insisted that PCR tests should be taken when necessary and not on a whim, so I did not take one . ‘
Illa on Thursday denied suggestions that he refused the test because he jumped in line to be vaccinated. “I have not been vaccinated, and the whole of Spain knows it,” he said.