The Commons define as “a new beginning” at the state level the reissue of the coalition government with the PSOE, a cabinet in which its strong man is Ernest Urtasun as Minister of Culture. Before the leadership of the Comuns, the former MEP has projected his portfolio as “key to continue moving forward in rights and freedoms” and to guarantee “plurinationality and linguistic rights” in a context of growth of the extreme right. “Culture is the main tool we have to continue combating inequality and hate phenomena“, has defended with mentions of the need to preserve freedom of expression and a law that guarantees equal access to culture.
Urtasun has claimed the “pride” and “relief” that citizens must feel when they see the photo of the new Council of Ministers. “Worth its weight in gold”, stressed the minister, who has defined Spain as the “pillar of progress” in a European Union where governments with a presence of the extreme right are ‘in crescendo’. The leader of the Comuns and former mayor of Barcelona has spoken along the same lines, Ada Colauwhich has appealed to “not be afraid” to confront the “challenge of the democratic system” that is taking place by PP and Vox, giving cover to “Francoist slogans” and “threats.”
Colau said, it is about “not only resisting attacks, but also generating new horizons of hope” with laws such as cultural rights, intervening “immediately” to lower rental prices – he said that the housing falls “short” -, incorporating oral care into public health, reducing the working day and raising the minimum wage and, also, the approval of an amnesty law that puts an end to “polarization.”
The Comuns have especially taken pride in the “via Asens” which, in their opinion, has ended up opening its way with the dejudicialization that began with the pardons and that continues now with the exoneration of the causes of the ‘procés’. In this sense, they have insisted, Catalonia has been decisive in the configuration of a Government that starts with this program despite the furious reaction of the extreme right.
Colau has not forgotten to send a message about Barcelona, where he considers that the same pact scheme must be followed as at the state level. “Unfortunately, Collboni is not to the left of Pedro Sanchez, that it is clear that progressive governments must be led,” said the former mayor, who has called on the current mayor to move now to forge a left-wing alliance at the head of the council. If he does not achieve this, he has warned, it will be his “failure.”