Carles Puigdemont He played the last Catalan elections with double or nothing: either he won and was proclaimed president of the Generalitat, or he retired from politics. That was the word given, but now, after losing at the polls and with Salvador Illa By occupying this position that he coveted, the independence leader is preparing to do exactly the opposite.
Junts will hold a congress in Calella (Barcelona) between October 25 and 27, where everything indicates that Puigdemont will regain the presidency of the party. With him outside Spain, he held this position until now Laura Borraswho should find his place in the new management.
In practice, Puigdemont has never stopped being in charge. Although the future strategy will consist not only of not changing anything, but to come backat times when the former president He also held maximum responsibilities in organic positions.
In Moncloa, they hoped that the removal of the independentists from power would open a period of reflection within the Junts, where internal voices could emerge in favor of a return to a pacifying nationalism as in the days of Convergencia. Although nothing could be further from the truth.
“The Congress is established for the sole purpose of Puigdemont crown“, internal party sources point out.
With him in front, as one might expect supported by his lieutenant, Jordi Turullthe balances will remain the same. In Junts, they reject that the results of their internal conclave can modify their marriage of convenience with Pedro Sánchez. At least, for now.
“Puigdemont knows it needs Sanchez for at least a yearDuring this period, stability is guaranteed. Until the amnesty is fully implemented, nothing will be affected and without the PSOE in government, this will not happen,” indicate sources close to the top leadership of Junts.
The truce could, however, last as long as it takes for the pardon measure to be applied. And it could also be extended in time, depending on the timetable of the Constitutional Court, which must rule on the appeal of the former president.
“Puigdemont believed for a moment that the PSOE could abstain from the Generalitat in order to govern and The resentment he has towards Sanchez is very great.. Therefore, once you can benefit from Amnesty, everything will change. Anything can happen and at that time, a situation would not be excluded. PP approach to overthrow the government,” the aforementioned sources insist.
No budget
This precarious stability does not imply unconditional support in any case. From Junts, they emphasize that there will be no budgetDespite the efforts of Sanchez and his mediator, Santos Cerdanto convince the independentists.
“Sanchez knows that there won’t be any and he is already preparing the ground. Puigdemont will make them fall with the excuse that he has not obtained all the powers he wants, such as in matters of immigration, while he knows that autonomous border control is totally impossible,” they emphasize from the Catalan formation.
In December, the PSOE agreed with Junts to transfer powers over immigration in exchange for allowing Puigdemont’s party to approve two important decrees. The independentists have adopted maximum positions, such as demanding border control, and Puigdemont is now insisting on this point.
Although both parties continue to negotiate in this direction, the leader of Junts dissociates himself from the negotiation on the budgets. “If someone thinks that by letting time pass we will accept an intermediate solution (in the manner of financing), it is good very confused” he wrote in a tweet this week.
Junts already voted in June against the deficit trajectory, before presenting the budgets, and now its spokesperson in Congress, Miriam Noguerashas already announced that it will follow the same line.
“If you want different results, do different things,” Nogueras told the finance minister this week in Congress. Maria Jesus Monteroarguing that the government’s proposal remains the same as the one that the independentists vetoed a few months ago.
Oriol Junqueras receives Marta Rovira upon her arrival from Switzerland last July.
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The ERC’s Harmless War
The minority sector of Junts, committed to the return to the spirit of convergence, regrets that this is impossible while the epic strategy embodied by Puigdemont continues to prevail. Meanwhile, the other major pro-independence party, the ERC, is also debating a new roadmap.
There, the waters are much rougher. The leadership is far from being granite, as is the case with Puigdemont. The dispute between the former president of the ERC Oriol Junqueras and its current secretary general, Marta Rovirawill take place at a congress called for November 30. There could be more candidates, although those who have options to win the leadership agree on the basics.
It is continue alongside the PSOE in Madrid to continue obtaining concessions for Catalonia. The Republican leadership supported the agreement with the PSC to allow the investiture of Salvador Illa to the Generalitat in exchange for a single financing for Catalonia and the next executive of the ERC will not abandon this line unless it feels betrayed because it does not comply with the agreements.
The actors involved in the renewal of the ERC, immersed in internal conflicts, remain strictly silent on the process. The path to independence shared with Junts has not gone well and they are now trying to distance themselves from their rivals.
“They feel much more comfortable right now in establishing a left-right axis“So their clear strategy is to be close to the socialists to continue to get things from them,” they consider among the entourage of Junts.
Against the backdrop of the low turnout in the last Diada, the independence movement is entering the hour of its reconstruction. And although its main parties are confrontedAt the same time as they have to resolve internal conflicts, it seems that for now Sánchez will emerge unscathed from this war.
