The president of Castilla-La Mancha, the socialist Emiliano García-Page, made an institutional statement in Toledo on Wednesday in which he openly attacked the pre-agreement signed between the PSC (sister party of the PSOE in Catalonia) and ERC for the investiture of Salvador Illa. An “obscene” and “shameful” pact that implies breaking with the concept of equality between Spaniards, the ideological basis of the PSOE, he stressed. “This document does not represent me and does not bind me,” warned Page, who predicted that “it will not go ahead” if it reaches Congress. “They call themselves left-wing, but it is the least left-wing approach I have seen. It is selfishness in person. It represents the opposite of what the left-wing parties defend. The problem is not with ERC but with those who put aside their program, their ideological code and their convictions. I and millions of people are not going to do it.”
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The document released yesterday by ERC states that the State is committed to providing Catalonia with its own financing system, which would mean that this community would leave the common regime and collect all its taxes. That, said the president of Castilla-La Mancha, is “unacceptable” and “indefensible” for a socialist, and implies “a kick to the constitutional puzzle”. Page has shown himself to be very much in favour of Salvador Illa, whom he has praised, being the new Catalan president, but has demanded that “the best for Catalonia does not end up being the worst for the rest of the territories of Spain”. “Illa’s investiture must be made possible without the rest of the territories having to pay the cost. We cannot pay for another investiture”. After the pardons for the leaders of the independence process in 2021, the reform of the Penal Code “in agreement with the criminals” in 2022 and the amnesty in 2023 – “all of this against what was promised [por el PSOE] “citizens,” he stressed—this agreement with ERC “exceeds all limits.” “That’s all,” he added solemnly.
“I am convinced that my party will not end up endorsing this,” he said, despite the fact that the PSOE executive “fully” endorsed it at its meeting on Tuesday and promised to “make it effective” in the institutions (for example, in Parliament, if the agreement requires the approval of legal reforms). “This approach has no chance of succeeding in Congress. It will not go ahead. Let no one be fooled.” […] “I sincerely hope that my party will not tolerate this,” Page reiterated.
The socialist leader has referred especially to the part of the document agreed by ERC and PSC which establishes that, after collecting all taxes, the Generalitat will give the State a contribution for the services provided and another in the concept of “solidarity” with the rest of the territories; the latter will be, of course, “limited” by the concept of “ordinality” (that is, that after contributing the community does not fall in its position of disposable income) and, in addition, conditioned on the rest of the communities making a “similar fiscal effort”. A “shameful”, “reactionary” approach and unbecoming of left-wing parties, Page has protested. “National wealth is national, it belongs to everyone. There is no wealth of Castilla-La Mancha, another of Valencia, another of Catalonia. National wealth is the most refined expression of national sovereignty. Taxes are paid by citizens and companies, not by the Junta or the Generalitat. They are paid by the people. And people do not show solidarity, they pay because taxes are obligatory and to maintain our welfare state. They cannot be parcelled out and the bill passed on to each community. Wealth is shared,” he insisted.
“Can you imagine that we admit that a citizen of Pedralbes [un barrio de Barcelona con alto poder adquisitivo] receive more, for paying more, than someone from Raval? Or that [Ana] Bootin [presidenta del banco Santander] “Does the Spanish government receive better education and healthcare because it pays more? That is unacceptable, it is indefensible,” the president of Castilla-La Mancha continued. “The independence movement is doing what it has always wanted to do: break this. And with a xenophobic and contemptuous tone towards the rest of the Spaniards. The ordinality is brutal, it is the denial of the left, it is very reactionary. It does not fit in the Constitution. It cannot be proposed that the key to the fund is held by the independentists. Are we going to move from the lie, from the farce that ‘Spain is robbing us’ to the fund being managed by them and they sending us the crumbs, that is, if we are also serious and we make an effort? Come on, not even the men in black of the EU! Please!”
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Just after García-Page’s appearance, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, appeared in Madrid before journalists to take stock of the political course. Asked about these statements by the Castilian-Manchegan, Sánchez limited himself to answering: “The news would be that Emiliano García-Page gave a press conference supporting the Government of Spain.” Sources close to Page later replied: “We are the ones who do not change our opinion and we are the ones who truly defend a left-wing position. We are ashamed of what we are agreeing to.”
García-Page and Javier Lambán from Aragon are, so far, the only two regional leaders of the Socialist Party who have raised their voices in a resounding manner against the PSC-ERC pact and have asked the PSOE leadership for explanations. This Wednesday, Luis Tudanca, the party’s general secretary in Castilla y León, also expressed his misgivings, warning that he will not “tolerate or defend a singular system that harms the interests” of his community. “We cannot sew the territorial unity of this country on one side by unstitching it on the other,” he stressed. Other regional leaders, such as Juan Espadas from Andalusia, Miguel Ángel Gallardo from Extremadura or Juan Lobato from Madrid, have expressed their doubts, although they are confident that the pact will ultimately establish buttresses to guarantee solidarity between regions.
