Junts used Wednesday's control session at the Parliament of Catalonia, a regular sitting for scrutinising the government, to demand that President Salvador Illa apologise for corruption cases linked to Spain's ruling PSOE. The clash matters for Catalan residents because time in the chamber is being consumed by disputes over national party scandals rather than debate on regional services, budgets and policies that affect daily life.

Mònica Sales, the president of Junts' parliamentary group, told Illa he should ask for forgiveness and stop "hiding". Illa replied that he feared nothing and had already given the explanations that were needed, according to the official parliamentary record published on 1 July.

Sales tells Illa to apologise for PSOE cases

In the session diary and the Parliament's published account of the exchange, Sales accused Illa of disappearing when Catalonia has problems and appearing when the PSOE has them. The PSOE is Spain's main centre-left governing party, and Illa is a senior Socialist figure who now leads the Catalan government.

"When Catalonia has a problem, you disappear. When the PSOE has one, you are always there."

Sales also referred to the PSOE federal committee held over the weekend, where Illa said the Socialists were not afraid of anything. Junts repeated that line in a party statement published on 1 July, which called for a public explanation and an apology from the president.

  • The exchange took place on Wednesday 1 July in the Parliament of Catalonia.
  • It happened during the chamber's control session, which is used by opposition parties to question the government.
  • Junts' intervention was led by Mònica Sales, who heads the party's group in the Catalan chamber.

Illa says he has already given explanations

Illa answered that he was not afraid and said he had already provided the explanations that corresponded to him. The official Diari de Sessions, the chamber's verbatim record, confirms the exchange between Sales and the president on 1 July.

The row follows a similarly tense session at the start of June, when opposition parties also tried to press Illa over alleged corruption cases affecting the PSOE and people around Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, according to the source material from Parliament and Junts.

The parliamentary documents provided for this article confirm what was said in the chamber and what Junts later stated publicly. They do not, by themselves, establish the legal status of each case mentioned politically during the exchange, and this article does not go beyond those verified records. BARNA's standards on sourcing and verification are set out in our Editorial Policy and Source Transparency pages.

What local readers can take from the session

For residents following Catalan politics, the immediate effect is that parliamentary scrutiny is still being dominated by arguments over the PSOE rather than solely by Catalonia-specific legislation and administration. For commuters, families and business owners, that matters because control sessions help shape what pressure the government faces on transport, housing, schools and public services.

Anyone who wants to check the exchange can consult the Parliament of Catalonia's official session diary and the published record from 1 July. Readers can also Contact Us if they want BARNA to examine a specific parliamentary claim in more detail.

Primary sources: Generalitat de Catalunya (Govern). Reported by Parlament de Catalunya, Junts per Catalunya, Parliament of Catalonia, Ara Cat.