2024-10-12 08:52:00
MadridThe image is unprecedented after fourteen years spent installing pro-independence presidents. Salvador Illa is taking part in the Hispanic Day military parade in Madrid this Saturday, marked by rain which forced the cancellation of the air parade and parachute jump. The decision of the head of the executive of the PSC, which is part of his commitment to recover “institutional normality” after the Process, means the return, fourteen years later, of the president of the Generalitat to the act led by King Felipe VI. Illa is on the authorities’ stand, which has become a cluster of umbrellas, with the rest of the regional presidents with the usual exception of the Basque Lehendakari, now Imanol Pradales. The land portion of the event takes place in heavy rain.
After the parade of the armed forces through the center of Madrid, Illa will also participate in the reception organized by the monarch at the Royal Palace. Only the presidents of the socialist government agreed to participate in the Hispanic Day parade. Before Illa, only Pasqual Maragall had participated, in 2004, becoming the first, and José Montilla, in the 2007 and 2010 editions, Jordi Pujol never went, although he attended the reception of the kings of Spain. Among the more recent presidencies, neither Artur Mas, nor Carles Puigdemont, nor Quim Torra, nor Pere Aragonès participated in any of the 12-O events.
Illa’s presence comes after another of the independence bonds had already been broken in the independence monarchy. The president of the Generalitat of the PSC certified the change of stage by meeting Felipe VI at the Palau de la Zarzuela nine years after the last visit of a head of the Catalan executive (Artur Mas in 2015) to the monarch’s residence. “Catalonia has returned and has decided to commit itself to building Spain for the benefit of all”, he proclaimed a few hours later, during the Day, held a week after September 11, in the headquarters of the Generalitat in Madrid.
Before holding the position of president of the Generalitat, Illa had already participated as an authority in a 12-O procession. It was 2020 when he was Minister of Health. However, it was one of the most atypical editions because in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic the restrictions were still strict and the event could not take place in its usual format but was a smaller event in the courtyard of the Royal Palace.
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