Married and Arrimadas ask that Illa leave the Ministry of Health after being designated a candidate for the Catalans
Popular Party, Citizens and United We Can - the minority partner of the coalition with the PSOE - have asked the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, on Monday, to leave that portfolio after being appointed head of the PSC list in the Catalan elections on February 14 and do not wait for the campaign to start, as expected.
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Pablo Casado has demanded that the Government of Pedro Sánchez "be in what it has to be, in saving lives and not in campaigning." "Of course, of course," replied the leader of the PP after being asked whether Illa should leave the ministry.
A similar consideration has been made by the president of Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, who has argued that Illa cannot be Minister of Health "part-time" while facing a third wave of coronavirus infections and applying the vaccination plan. In statements to Telecinco, the leader of the orange party has added that if Illa continues to combine both functions, the Ministry of Health will have to put up a sign that says "closed for campaign".
United We can also join these requests through its deputy Juantxo López de Uralde. "It does not seem illegitimate to me that he decides to run for elections, the Catalan in this case, because he has the perfect right to be a candidate, but in the current circumstances the Minister of Health must be focused on the fight against the pandemic" statements to Radio Vitoria.
According to López de Uralde, someone who "faces 100% the fight against the pandemic" should be in charge of Health. "We are used to long campaigns and although the elections are in February, we already know that, since an election is announced, everyone goes into pre-campaign mode. Therefore, Illa must leave the ministry and dedicate herself to being a candidate," he insisted .