Tensions among Catalan separatists in the face of the change of cycle due to the investiture of the socialist Illa
Armando G. Tejeda
Correspondent
The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, August 6, 2024, p. 24
Madrid. The change of cycle with the imminent investiture of the socialist Salvador Illa, which will end 15 years of nationalist governments, increases the tension between the two main political parties of the independence movement, now openly opposed by the change in strategy of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), which decided to support Illa to assume power in exchange for the pact that will allow the region to have fiscal autonomy from the Spanish State.
The dispute was triggered by statements made by former President Carles Puigdemont last Saturday, when he warned that he would return to Spain after seven years living in Belgium to avoid the Spanish courts and blamed the pact between ERC and the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) for his possible arrest.
The response of ERC, which in the elections of May 14 went from being the first to the third political force in the region, thus losing the presidency of the Generalitat, which it currently holds pending the formation of the new government, came on Monday. In a message addressed to Puigdemont, it demanded a rectification and an apology by To consider that a hypothetical arrest of President Puigdemont would be the fault of Esquerra Republicana is an insult.
He indicated that they are an organization sovereign, radically democratic and will always make political decisions counting on its militancy, with majority and consensus.
From the front of Puigdemont’s party, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), the president, Laura Borrás, responded, who assured that In a liberation process you do not make a pact with those who do not want you to be liberated.in reference to the PSC and its leader, Illa, who was also one of the main defenders of the application of article 155 of the Constitution for the intervention of Catalan institutions after the failed declaration of independence in October 2017.
Furthermore, within the nationalist bloc, the decision of the ERC youth bloc, Jovent Republicà, is awaited. The bloc has autonomy in its voting and if it finally decides not to support Illa’s investiture, it could block the future coalition government between PSC, ERC and En Comú Podem.
The president of the Catalan Parliament, Josep Rull, a former advisor to Puigdemont’s government, will have to initiate contacts with the parliamentary groups to decide the date of the investiture debate, which should take place this week.