The independence movement needs a new leadership to present an attractive offer to the electorate again. This was stated on Monday by the secretary general of the ERC, Marta Rovira, who will leave her position after the party congress and who defended that the Junts, the ERC and the rest of the sovereignist movement will only be able to develop a common strategy with new faces in command. “I have thrown in the towel and I do not know what else to do so that we can understand each other again,” Rovira said in an interview with TV3.
The political course in Catalonia begins with the hangover of the inauguration of the first non-independence president in 14 years, the socialist Salvador Illa. The calendar does not stop and in the autumn Junts and ERC will hold their respective conferences. Barring any surprises, Junts will consecrate the internal power of Carles Puigdemont, while ERC will choose between returning control to Oriol Junqueras after more than ten years in office or between an alternative list that still has no visible head. In short, it is possible that the independence movement will maintain the leadership that led to its greatest rise and the recent crises.
According to Rovira’s diagnosis, since she decided to go to Switzerland in 2018 to avoid being imprisoned by the process, she has tried to restore the damaged relations between the two main pro-independence parties. Without success. “Honestly, since I don’t know what else to do, I ask for the renewal of the movement and a new generation that commits to the strategic agreements and that will not have the burden of what has happened since 2017,” he said.
Without explicitly mentioning them, Rovira’s remarks include a request to Puigdemont and Junqueras, who have had bad relations since their time in government, to step down and allow the renewal of the leadership of Junts and ERC.
Regarding the ERC congress, the ERC Guarantees Commission approved the holding of the party conclave on November 30, as defended by the Republican leadership.
Regarding the direction of the new government, Rovira warned on Monday that once the transfer of powers is made, the Republicans will begin to form “a political opposition in complete freedom”, without joining the Executive of Illa being a possibility. He also indicated that “a part of the opposition” could agree with Junts.
Rovira assured that the PSC is “an opposing project” to that of the ERC and defined the Catalan socialists as “a force that is still very conservative”, in addition to demanding that Illa now dismiss the senior officials of the previous government who are still in their positions.
Turull invites Puigdemont to lead Junts
In terms of leadership, the secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, wants to reiterate his position after the congress that the group will hold in October. He explained this in an interview on Rac-1 where he did not comment on whether Carles Puigdemont should occupy the presidency of the party, but he said that he should be “as involved as possible” with the party in the “formula in which” he feels comfortable.
The leader also warned Pedro Sánchez that he would vote against “anything that consolidates coffee for all” in the Congress of Deputies, in reference to the singular financing. He said that this issue should be put on the negotiating table between the PSOE and the Junts in Switzerland. “The Spanish government has no guaranteed support, piece by piece,” insisted Turull, who stressed that his party is not part of any bloc.
Turull explained new details about Puigdemont’s return and escape in August. According to Turull, Puigdemont wanted to attend the plenary session. After the speech at the Arc de Triomphe, Puigdemont and Turull went to a nearby apartment to prepare the speech of the head of the Juntas, but faced with the security detail, at noon they decided to leave. They settled for a few hours on the second floor and between seven and eight in the afternoon they began to leave Barcelona for France by road, in a different car from the white one in the morning.
