Raquel Sans, an ERC member of the Catalan Parliament for Tarragona, said on Monday that her party’s pressure was responsible for what she described as the Illa government’s limited ambition, citing political instability and management failures within the Generalitat, Catalonia’s regional government.

In an interview published by Reusdigital.cat on 7 September 2026, Sans said the administration led by President Salvador Illa had seen dismissals and resignations, including those of the Education Department’s secretary-general and the Interior Department’s secretary-general. She also criticised the handling of ES-Alert emergency mobile-phone warnings during recent heavy rainfall.

For residents in Tarragona province, Sans placed transport, public services and healthcare access among the practical consequences of the funding and planning disputes she raised. She said ERC, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, had pushed for progress on the transfer of Rodalies commuter-rail responsibilities and a separate financing arrangement for Catalonia.

“If ERC were not applying pressure, this government would have no ambition at all,” Sans said.

ERC defends support for the 2026 budget

Sans defended ERC’s support for the Generalitat’s 2026 budget, describing it as a response to parliamentary arithmetic and arguing that the alternative would be political chaos. She said the party was seeking to limit the effect of decisions by a Socialist-led minority government.

According to her Parlament de Catalunya profile, Sans has represented the Tarragona constituency in the current 15th legislature since June 2024. She is a member of the parliamentary Economy and Finance Committee and the Research and Universities Committee.

Sans argued that Catalonia’s public services were working with funding designed for a smaller population. She said investment in Camp de Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre was insufficient, and pointed to the availability of 24-hour mechanical thrombectomy treatment for stroke patients as an area where ERC had pressed for equal access outside Barcelona.

Transport, industry and metropolitan planning

The ERC MP identified mobility and the decarbonisation of the chemical industry as the main challenges facing Camp de Tarragona. She also warned that plans for a future metropolitan area should lead to shared planning of equipment and services, rather than becoming solely a political or technical structure.

  • She said Reus and Tarragona could struggle individually to support some specialist medical services.
  • She argued that a combined metropolitan population including Reus, Tarragona, Cambrils, Valls and Vila-seca could provide the necessary critical mass.
  • She said services may need to be located in different municipalities, rather than each town seeking to host every facility.

Sans also cited congestion at Tarragona station on 12 August as an example of the gap she sees between government announcements and daily experience for rail passengers.

Sans plans to leave front-line politics after term

Sans said she intends to leave front-line politics when the current legislature ends, after what she said would be 10 years in prominent political roles. She said she would remain an ERC member but wanted to return to professional work in either the public or private sector.

She said ERC had several potential candidates to lead its Tarragona list at the next Catalan election.

Primary sources: govern.cat. Reported by diaridetarragona.com, Parlament de Catalunya, diaripublic.cat, antena3.com, elpais.com, abc.es, elconfidencial.com, eldiarioalerta.com, parlament.cat, pollar.news, reusdigital.cat.