The three candidates for the presidency of ERC are very critical of the stage that the party is closing, but each of them blames different people for it. During the debate that the three candidates held this Tuesday, Oriol Junqueras attacked the policy of the government of Father Aragonès, whom he accused of having “disconnected” from the priorities of the social majority. Meanwhile, Xavier Godàs and Helena Solà considered that it is Junqueras himself who must be responsible for the decisions taken.
Godàs, the candidate of Nova Esquerra Nacional, the sector considered alienated with Marta Rovira, assured that his priority was to re-anchor the ERC in the space of the independence left. He insisted on the need for the party to have greater ideological clarity and illustrated the ambiguity of Junqueras himself, who pointed out that he had not been clear about what he had voted for in the inauguration of Salvador Illa.
The two rivals of the candidate for re-election agreed to demand “self-criticism” from Junqueras, who, they recall, has led the party for 13 years. “We must open a new stage,” said Godàs, who indicated that if he had been president he would have taken responsibility for everything that happens in the party. “I hope you never find yourself in prison for four years,” Junqueras responded.
The former president of the Republicans, candidate of Militancia Decidim, avoided revealing whether he had voted favorably or not for Illa’s inauguration, but he assured that his priority was for the CPS to respect the signed agreement. If he does not do so, he said, the ERC should “exclude” socialists from all governments, a proposal that all candidates have emphasized with varying emphases.
Helena Solà, Foc Nou candidate, recalled that the ERC lost voters in all the elections in which it ran and attributed this fall to a specific moment: “We lost when we abandoned independence” , declared Solà, who considered that the priority of the party should be to “stop being a crutch for the CPS”.
For his part, Junqueras opted for a speech of a clearly social and union nature. “We must welcome the peasants”, he came to say, after having criticized in a low voice the previous ERC government, which he accused of not having been sufficiently sensitive to the workers of the countryside, of industry or of public services.
“When the irrigators of the Canal d’Urgell ask for a commitment for the modernization of the canal and do not obtain it, and the minister of the Socialist Government gives it to them, they feel abandoned by us”, he illustrated. He also criticized the school voucher, one of Aragonès’ flagship policies, which he considers not very redistributive.
While Junqueras opted for the more social identity of ERC and Solà took up the independence flag, Godàs placed himself somewhere in between. “We are not a bit of the PSC or a bit of the Junts depending on the context. We are the national left and we must contribute to the national liberation movement like the ERC,” Godàs assured.
The Rovirist candidate also promised to be able to form “republican alliances”, with his eyes turned towards the CUP and part of the Commons, to lead a “republican assault against town halls” during the 2027 elections.
Godàs, in this case coinciding with Solà, also demanded a structure that separates the party from the governments, that is, in which the president of ERC is not a candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat. This is one of the questions that distances them the most from Junqueras, who has never hidden his ambition to run for office.
In fact, the electoral question was one of the axes of the debate. “I know that October 30 [día de la votación que decidirá la presidencia de ERC] It is important, but it is more important that it is done later, because the important thing is to build a common project to obtain the best possible results in the elections,” assured Junqueras, presenting himself as an electoral asset.
The controversy over the posters against Pasqual and Ernest Maragall, emanating from the party itself, was not left aside either. In this case, Junqueras and Solà agreed, assuring that they would submit the case for an audit, while Godàs stressed that he trusted the party’s own structures to clarify the case.
Despite exchanges of proposals and occasional barbs, the debate between the three candidates took place without white gloves and on many points they showed a certain complicity. “It’s normal, we share the game,” explains Godàs. Everyone invited each other to “help each other” and collaborate after the Congress process, aware that, in the weak situation in which the ERC finds itself, everyone must unite so that the party does not break up.
