Salvador Illa Ties Himself to the Losers of the Last Catalan Elections

Salvador Illa arrived at the Generalitat with the ambition to open a new chapter in Catalonia, and he is starting to look like Pere Aragonès. PSC has closed a last-minute agreement with ERC, Comuns, and CUP.

The agreement allows the Govern to save the urgent housing measures decree at the last minute, which is key to keeping Comuns's support.

Comuns had even threatened to withdraw support from Illa if there was no agreement. PSC has saved another match point, but with the feeling of being increasingly tied by its partners. To make matters worse, it now adds CUP to the equation, just a few days after the controversial statements encouraging violence in Salt.

PSC ties itself to the parties that were defeated in the Catalan elections on May 12 last year. That is no small matter, because it contradicts precisely the desire for change that Catalans expressed at the polls.

They Have Lost 250,000 Votes in Three Years

PSC chose ERC as a strategic ally, which had led one of the most failed governments, losing 178,446 votes and 13 deputies in the elections. It also tied itself to Comuns, another declining formation that lost 13,350 votes and two deputies.

ERC, Comuns, and CUP went from having 50 deputies to only 30, and from representing 37% of Parliament to only 22%. The three parties together have lost 250,000 votes in three years (2021-2024) despite increased participation. PSC now also adds CUP to its bizarre alliance of losers.

Except for PSC, the other parties that increased in votes and seats were Junts, PP, Vox, and Aliança Catalana. With Vox and Aliança Catalana, it exercises a cordon sanitaire along with the rest of the formations except PP. With PP, they keep a tense relationship, and they haven't wanted to explore a government alternative with Junts either.

Turning Point

The housing pact with ERC, Comuns, and CUP marks a turning point in the legislature. On one hand, it allows the socialists to stabilize after some somewhat turbulent weeks. Although the most important part remains, securing the support of ERC and Comuns for the credit supplement due to the lack of budgets.

But on the other hand, it mortgages Illa's already weak government and his ambitious reform plan. The alliance with the progressive parties is at least risky because it means chaining themselves to parties that are going downhill without remedy. Bread for today and hunger for tomorrow, considering their narrow majority of 68 deputies.

Alongside all this is the legitimacy problem that PSC engenders from now on. The housing issue is a clear example. The socialists yield to the impositions of Comuns and CUP, two formations that represent an absolute minority of Parliament.

This was a constant during the pro-independence decade when ERC and Junts accepted leaving the country's reins in the hands of CUP's ten deputies. Now Illa reproduces the same logic. So far, he has done nothing but make concessions to these parties, whom Catalans harshly punished eleven months ago.

The Govern will present the agreement closed with ERC, Comuns, and CUP this Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how PSC justifies it and what position the rest of the parties take.