Spain’s ruling Socialists have regained control of Catalonia’s regional government as a new Cabinet was sworn in on Monday, ending more than a decade of separatist rule in the region.
The 16-member Cabinet is led by Salvador Illa, who was Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I want to assure you that the government will rule for everyone, this is really a passion,” Illa said during the swearing-in ceremony.
This is the first time since 2010 that the prosperous northeastern region has a government that does not come from the pro-independence camp.
The Socialists won the most seats in the regional election in May, but missed a majority.
Illa won the backing of the small left-wing Comuns party – which is part of the Sumar coalition that backs Sanchez nationally – and the liberal separatist ERC party to become the regional leader in a vote in Catalonia’s regional assembly on Thursday.
The formation of a government in Catalonia will be seen as a confirmation of Sanchez’s strategy of trying to make concessions to undermine support for separatism in the region, including a controversial amnesty for those involved in the illegal independence referendum in 2017 that sparked Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
To obtain ERC’s support, the Socialists vowed to give Catalonia full control over taxes collected in the region, which has been one of the main demands of pro-independence parties for decades.
The proposal has yet to be approved by Spain’s national parliament, and is opposed by the conservative opposition as well as some in the Socialist Party, who argue it would deprive the central state of substantial revenue.
Last week’s vote was overshadowed by fugitive separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who defied a pending arrest warrant for his role in a 2017 separatist attempt, appeared at a Barcelona rally after seven years of self-exile, and then disappeared before police could arrest him.
He has returned to Belgium, where he has lived for most of the years since leaving Spain.
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