Government favors independence 'freeloaders' over public servants, says opposition

The Catalan government "treats the 'freeloaders' of the independence process better than public servants," claimed the leader of the opposition in Wednesday's debate in Parliament on public services.

The head of the Ciutadans party (Cs), Inés Arrimadas, also condemned what she called "ideological pressure" on public servants by the government, who she accused of raising insecurity in the public sector because employees "do not have the freedom to complain."

MP Gemma Geis from the pro-independence JxCat party responded to Arrimadas' comments. "Ideological pressure is when a democratically elected mayor leaves their house and is detained by hooded men," she said, referring to arrests of local officials by the Spanish police for pro-independence protests.

Socialists accuse president of hiding

Yet, the Catalan Socialist party was also critical of the government, accusing president Torra of "hiding" when Catalonia's public services "were in crisis," according to MP Pol Gibert, who called on Torra to implement the measures necessary to reverse the austerity cuts of recent years.

"Public services do not live from nice words, but from the resources that were were cut over a period of years," added Gibert, who also told the president: "You have to start recovering these public services."

ERC to opposition: be constructive

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the pro-independence ERC party, Sergi Sabrià, called on parties to be "constructive" in their opposition and to "help" the passage of the budget "if they want to contribute to the quality of public services."