Pro-independence business chief in Barcelona dismisses Madrid government’s free facemasks as a populist measure

JOAN CANADELL, pro-independence president of Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce, condemned the national government for distributing free facemasks on public transport.

It was a “populist” gesture, according to Canadell, who told a TV3 television interviewer that the masks should have been sent directly to employers to give to staff when the ban on non-essential activity was lifted after Easter.

Neither was it an efficient measure because many people were afraid of crowding on the Metro and drove to work in their own cars, he maintained.

Canadell lamented that Catalan firms lack sufficient personal protection equipment (PPE) and declared that more testing was needed to identify people immune to the coronavirus and those who were contagious.

It was essential to have PPEs and testing before returning to work, said Canadell who criticised Madrid’s decision to relax the ban on all non-urgent activities and travel that came into force on March 28.

The possibility of a resurgence would be “very worrying for Catalonia,” Canadell warned.

“Tourism generates 12 per cent of Catalonia’s Gross Domestic Product and saying goodbye to the summer season would be very dramatic,” he said.