A party waiting for its leader. This is how Junts faces its congress the last weekend of October. The party is waiting for Carles Puigdemont to announce that he officially wishes to chair the party to organically endorse his indisputable political leadership. The conclave was designed to facilitate the coronation of the former president and minimize the possibility of an internal leadership debate.
The precedent is recent. The votes of the last congress of 2022 were individual for each leadership position, which made some members of the sector linked to Laura Borràs (current president of the party with few options to repeat herself after being found guilty of corruption) did not get the necessary support and they had to be rescued later by management.
Solution for the 2024 congress: leadership will be voted on through closed and blocked lists, which will avoid internal punitive votes. The requirement of six months of activism to access a position is also removed in order to open the doors to independents.
The two Catalan parties that installed Pedro Sánchez face their congresses this fall with the same loss of institutional power, but with an opposite organic situation: while in Junts no one discusses the leadership of Puigdemont and we await an announcement from the former president on his presidency. Regarding the party, the ERC is experiencing a civil war between the supporters of Oriol Junqueras and Marta Rovira which risks spreading even after the November 30 conclave.
A month before, the Junts Congress will take place, which should be much more peaceful on an organizational and political level. The design of the meeting organized by the management of the Junts clearly gives priority to the debate on the presentations over that of the management, which will be justified by a single vote on Saturday October 26 on the closed and blocked lists that can be presented on the same day. day. .
Junts sources explained this Monday that the objective of their congress is to begin the “relaunch of independence” after the unprecedented loss of the majority in Parliament. To this end, the party intends to “reduce hostilities” with the ERC, as indicated in one of the presentation documents which will be sent this Wednesday to activists and which will be debated between members throughout the month of October before to be voted on in Congress.
The hand extended to the ERC, on the one hand, is combined, on the other hand, with the clear intention of reaffirming hegemony over the Republicans in the area of independence. Junts presents itself as “the clear alternative to the tripartite government” of Salvador Illa, and wants to be the “reference party” in matters of sovereignty, even opening itself to independents and activists from other groups.
Immigration and taxes
No major changes in Junts’ traditional policies are presented in the party’s three presentations (organization, national model and strategy). The party pledges to remain centre-right economically through the “complete abolition” of inheritance tax and the “bonus” corporate tax in cases where profits are reinvested.
After agreeing with the PSOE on a transfer of powers difficult to achieve, Junts insists on giving priority to the debate on immigration rather than competition in the matter from the far right of Aliança Catalana. “Immigration with the right tools is an opportunity, but if you don’t have the tools and skills, it’s a risk for social cohesion,” say party sources.
The presentation proposes the creation of a Catalan immigration agency, once the transfer of powers has been formalized. According to Junts sources, it would be a “bilateral” entity which would allow “the setting of quotas and arrival conditions” or the implementation of “integration policies” through language. “It is the duty of those who learn to know and use Catalan, but it is a right to be able to take courses,” say party sources.
Regarding the pacts with the PSOE, Junts sources indicated that they did not want to introduce in congress a “substantial change” to the pact with the socialists that facilitated Sánchez’s inauguration. In other words, Junts is not part of any bloc and the PSOE will have to solicit its votes for each legislative project. The agreements must be validated by the National Council of Juntas.
Puigdemont’s leadership, waiting to be formalized at the organic level, will be manifested again this week: the former president and current deputy of the Junts summoned the parliamentary group and the party leadership in Waterloo (Belgium) this Wednesday and Thursday to prepare the general policy debate. . Puigdemont remains a deputy even though he announced that if he was not president, he would retire. For the moment, he has not requested the prerogatives due to him as leader of the opposition.
