Catalan minister Joan Ignasi Elena was already on a slippery slope. And, as of today, he does not have the confidence of the Parliament of Catalonia. That was confirmed this Thursday when the chamber voted in favour of censuring the head of the interior ministry after the crisis over the leadership of the Mossos d'Esquadra police. The motion was presented by the Catalan Socialists (PSC) and the specific point disapproving of the minister was passed thanks to the abstention of Together for Catalonia (Junts). Only the governing Republican Left (ERC) and the pro-independence, left-wing CUP voted against it, with this latter party declaring it did not want to play the Socialists' game, despite being critical of the minister. Elena has always had the support of president Pere Aragonès. After the result of the vote was known, he replied that he would continue to work for "the security, rights and freedoms of all citizens".
The key point stated that "the Parliament of Catalonia disapproves of the actions of the Minister of the Interior". The PSC along with the right-wing trio of Vox, PP and Ciudadanos voted in favour, which together with the abstentions of Junts and the alternative left Comuns allowed the point to be passed. The direction of the vote by Junts, former coalition government partners, was key to deciding the balance. MP Jeannine Abella argued against voting in favour in order to not "use security for electoral purposes", that the Socialists had moved the debate "into personal territory" and that they would not participate in the "campaign of discredit against the body of the Mossos d'Esquadra". However, exercising its opposition role, Junts warned minister Joan Ignasi Elena that "he needs to improve a lot for the good of the corps and the citizens". And finally they facilitated the vote of censure.
Minister Elena's reaction was not long in coming. Just after the vote in the Parliament of Catalonia, the head of the Catalan interior ministry denounced on his Twitter account: "The four Spanish right-wing parties in the Parliament, led by the PSC, united in defence of their outdated police model". And he refused to throw in the towel: "We will continue to work to guarantee the safety, rights and freedoms of all citizens and, in particular, of the most vulnerable." In the same vein, the ERC deputy Lluïsa Llop argued in favour of security policies that are not "neutral", that they should "have ideology" and that, in fact, they need to be "progressive".
Les quatre dretes espanyoles del Parlament, liderades pel PSC, unides en defensa del seu model policial caduc.
— Joan Ignasi Elena (@joanignasielena) November 24, 2022
Seguirem treballant per garantir la seguretat, els drets i les llibertats de tota la ciutadania i, particularment, de la més vulnerable.
Apart from the specific point of censure, others were also passed, such as the point that "states that the changes promoted by the interior minister at the head of the Mossos d'Esquadra body, at the police prefecture and at the head of police stations, police divisions and regions, have generated a long period of instability in the leadership of the police force." In this regard, the chamber also "urged the government to refrain from making further intrusions into the organizational structure of the Mossos d'Esquadra body, in order to avoid prolonging the uncertainty generated".