PP Questions Salvador Illa's 'Shared Prosperity' with Data

One of Salvador Illa's mottos was the economic recovery of Catalonia. Even more: President Illa aimed to recover Spain's economic leadership. He gave so much (advertising) importance to the project that he even presented it in Madrid. In economic terms, this project consisted of making the Catalan economic fabric more productive.

Parallel to this, Illa wanted to give a sense of certainty and predictability in Catalonia. In the end, this was nothing more than restoring good relations between the Catalan political power and the entrepreneurs. The litmus test was the return of part of the Caixa universe to Barcelona, particularly the Foundation.

The difficulty of this economic project is that i) changes in the economic model are complex and, above all, slow; ii) not all companies are Caixa. And if we look at the data, the results so far are questionable. On one hand, unemployment has risen in Catalonia, on the other hand, the exodus of companies has not been reversed.

According to the data broken down by The Objective, the net balance of company entries and exits from Catalonia is negative. Specifically, few companies are arriving (and the exit is not completely blocked). More specifically, the net balance is the worst in six years.

Regarding unemployment, the latest EPA shows that Catalonia has the worst increase in unemployed people since the 2008 crash. As it could not be otherwise, most of these unemployed are people coming from outside Catalonia who either can't find work or are entering the labor market. For an economic model like ours, this data reflects a worrying dynamic, as GDP growth depends almost exclusively on immigrant workers.

Double Opposition to Illa

For Juan Fernández, spokesperson for the PP in Parliament, this data is unequivocal. "PSC continues with the agenda of the procés and Catalans keep suffering its consequences. Salvador Illa's 'shared prosperity' is nothing more than a televangelist's deception. Behind that: more decay," says the popular politician through social media:

Since the beginning of the legislature, the PPC's discourse has been along the lines of criticizing the "procesista" continuity of the PSC. That is, big headlines that do not come down to reality. On another major issue of the legislature, for example, singular financing, the party leader, Alejandro Fernández, said it was nothing short of a scam.

In fact, Alejandro Fernández is characterized by having, for years, advocated the need for a PP clearly distanced from any understanding with the procesismo. As is known, this caused him problems with the national leadership. But both the electoral results and his media impact have allowed him to carry his project forward.

It is worth noting that these criticisms from the PP show a clear division with Vox's discourse. While the PP focuses on the economy (with some forays into other areas, such as female genital mutilation), Vox focuses on immigration and insecurity. This represents a double front for Salvador Illa from the constitutionalist side.