The former president of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, admitted to seeing in Salvador Illa, current leader of the Catalan Executive, a “spirit” which reminds him in certain aspects of his former party, Convergència i Unió (CiU). “He has a spirit that tries to be constructive and positive,” he said of the socialist in an interview with Radio Catalonia. “In this I recognize that he has this attitude [convergente]”.
But he clarified that, despite his words, “he knows where everyone is” and later admitted that in his party he had had politicians with the same profile as Salvador Illa. “When I became president of the government in 2010, I myself incorporated people from the PSC,” he underlined in reference to Illa’s signatures of positions linked to conservative Catalanism.
Concerning the resignation of the president of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, to become leader of the opposition, Mas considered it “logical” because “it is not easy” to exercise this function when he was previously president of the Generalitat. He nevertheless declared himself in favor of a person from the group who would assume this responsibility. “If it’s not him, someone has to do it,” he added.
According to Mas, Junts’ “main challenge” is for the party to be seen by voters as an “alternative” to the current government. “It must not only be a party that resists elections, but also that it must be able to organize itself to be a potentially winning alternative,” he added.
Singular financing and fiscal pact
Mas referred to the financing agreed between the PSC, the Government and the ERC, comparing it to the economic agreement he demanded in 2012, when he presided over the Generalitat. “They changed the name but it’s exactly the same,” he defended.
Regarding Junts’ attitude towards this negotiation, Mas considers that the fact that the party was not part of the initial agreement does not necessarily imply that it opposes the agreement. “What we have to do is make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible,” he added.
“When I arrive [el acuerdo] at final port, when the laws are in Congress, then we will see everyone’s position. If the model goes in the direction of what is being said, that is, an economic agreement, I am sure that Junts will help make that even better,” the former president said. “I cannot envisage a scenario different from this,” he concluded.
