Salvador Illa, president of the Generalitat, has taken advantage of the traditional presidential Christmas message this Friday to warn of the risks of the ultra wave that threatens, not only Catalonia but also Spain and all of Europe, and to point out that “no country or any society can be built” without “humanity” and without “solidarity.” Illa’s speech comes after the unrest caused in Catalonia by the eviction of 400 homeless of an old institute in Badalona, ordered by him and without providing any alternative for the affected people, and against the background of electoral polls that point to a notable increase in the party of . “The response to the needs and challenges of Catalonia is not to blame the people who have less or those who are different,” said the president.
Wearing a dark suit and a maroon tie, a uniform practically identical to the one he wore in last year’s speech during his speech, Illa appeared from the Palau de la Generalitat to emphasize that 2025 “has been a good year for Catalonia.” The Government has not been able to approve budgets, it has half-developed its star plan to shed light on the housing problem and it has been delaying the mission of designing a new financing model that generates a minimum consensus, beyond what may be liked in the respective headquarters of the PSOE and the PSC. “We have, of course, a lot of work to do. And the most important thing is that we have the will and commitment to do it,” said the president. “I am convinced that 2026 will be even better,” he predicted.
“Without financing there will be no budgets,” ERC warned a few days ago and, this same Friday, warned that guaranteeing for the Generalitat the management of personal income tax collection is an “essential” requirement if Illa and Pedro Sánchez want to continue counting on the support of Esquerra Republicana to mitigate the minority that, both, have in parliamentary seats.
The Catalan president, who has never hidden his Catholic devotion, has structured his Sant Esteve speech on attacking the loss of faith in “human values” such as “empathy, solidarity and also responsibility.” Faced with the progressive penetration of ultra ideas in society, “Europe is experiencing a crucial moment,” he highlighted, Illa has thrown a question into the wind: “what are we left with if we do not act humanely?” He himself has provided an answer: “Humanity means welcoming and integrating people who need it,” he said, while highlighting the importance of supporting a welfare state capable of “guaranteeing education and public health for all.”
Illa has clinched her intervention with a verse by Josep Maria de Sagarra, “We do our best to be men of good will” (Let us do our best to be men of good will), after having had a reminder for the firefighters who died in separate interventions in and and for the citizens affected by the forest fires in the regions of Lleida, in the floods of Terres de l’Ebre or in the health crisis due to African swine fever.
