The relaunch of relations between Catalonia and the EU was one of the tasks that Father Aragonès had left half-done. At the beginning of the year, the former president of the Generalitat reactivated the contacts that had been practically non-existent since the beginning of the process, but the early elections have once again relegated the issue that Salvador Illa had placed among the priorities of his mandate. And to open this path, he chose Jaume Duch, unknown to the general public, but an old acquaintance of the “Brussels bubble”.
“Catalonia is Europe and this delegation is proof of that,” said the new Minister for the European Union and Foreign Affairs on Thursday at the headquarters of the Generalitat in Brussels, where he went to commemorate the Day. The great visual novelty was the placement of the three flags on the door: the Spanish one (which until now was not there), the European one and the senyera one. “Catalonia must strengthen its economic leadership in Spain and the European Union and become a reference in generating prosperity,” added Duch, following the scenario set by the new Illa government, aware that for more than a decade the image that Catalonia has been exporting has been fundamentally one of political conflict.
“Catalonia must look forward,” concluded the minister, who spoke in English, French, Spanish and Catalan. He made a mention of the language in his speech. “It must be a language of normal use in the institutions,” he said, pledging to fight for the official status of Catalan in the EU, which is currently in the drawers of the Council and the European Parliament, to become a reality.
In this case, it was not a public presentation because the participants knew him well. Many attended this institutional event because of the relationship that has united them for decades. The novelty effect also made the audience very broad and varied. Representatives of the Spanish representation to the EU, other autonomous communities and officials from European institutions such as the Council of the EU or the European Commission were present. Also socialist MEPs, such as Javi López, Laura Ballarín or Leire Pajín, and the spokesperson for the European People’s Party.
The highest Catalan official
Many considered Duch closer to the parliamentary right than to the socialists, so his appointment came as a surprise to many. “Everyone thought he was from the PP and now look,” quips a senior European official. “I’ve always tried to have friends everywhere,” retorts a well-versed expert on the ins and outs of the European Parliament. However, as spokesperson, he fought to be promoted to secretary general and it was precisely the EPP that torpedoed his aspirations by opting for the former head of the president’s cabinet, Roberta Metsola.
The new advisor took his first steps in the EU as a parliamentary assistant to a Unió MEP in the late 80s. From there, he continued his career, but now as a European civil servant. And how does this translate into Illa’s government? “Salvador Illa, during his three years leading the opposition, had a powerful international agenda and came to Brussels once a year. In the programs, there was always a meeting with Jaume Duch, because he was the highest Catalan official,” PSC MEP Javi López explains to elDiario.es about how they came into contact.
In these meetings, adds López, the current president “always appreciated the professionalism” of Duch, as well as “his great knowledge of the European institutions, his network of contacts and his in-depth analyses of the political situation.” The MEP sees in the signature of the former president of the European Parliament an example of Illa’s ability to “attract talent from civil society.”
It has been 37 years since Duch last missed a plenary session of the European Parliament and he will now have to follow parliamentary sessions from the uncomfortable side, in which “the bricks fall”, as he himself admitted in an informal conversation with journalists at the end of the Diada commemorative event. He is aware that it is easier for him than anyone else to pick up the phone. “Depending on what you ask, we will see about the second one”, he says ironically.
His departure from Brussels was hasty and leaves a void in key positions in the European Parliament: the Directorate-General for Communication and the spokesperson, which he had held since 2006. “It was unexpected before the summer,” acknowledged the president of the institution, Roberta Metsola, at a reception for journalists after the summer holidays.
Metsola was not presented on this occasion by Duch, as is the tradition, but by Jesús Carmona, the European Parliament’s media director, who is in the running to succeed the current advisor in a distribution of posts where political and geographical balances come into play. Carmona is in his favour that the only two Spaniards in the general directorates leave their posts vacant at the beginning of the legislature, although some sources suggest that the “super portfolio” occupied by Duch will be divided into several areas and this will allow more room to be shared.
