It’s a matter of two: Puigdemont or Illa. It is the idea that Junts is trying to convey to the Catalans in the final stretch of the electoral campaign and this is what the general secretary of JuntsxCat, Jordi Turull, has pointed out this Jew, in his speech at the Barcelona Tribuna forum, a colloquium organized by the Societat Econòmica Barcelonesa of Friends of the Country, chaired by Miquel Roca, the Spanish Association of Directors (AED) and La Vanguardia, in which he has asked to concentrate the pro-independence vote on the former president.
“Any vote that does not go to Puigdemont makes it easier for Illa to be president,” the post-convergent leader warned after his conference titled “The Crossroads of May 12,” in which, as a summary, he posed the following dilemma: “Do we want to be treated as first-class Catalan citizens in Catalonia or as second-class Spanish citizens?”
A dilemma in which, obviously, he has identified the first part with the vote for his candidacy and the second, with any other option, but specifically Salvador Illa, PSC candidate. Turull, who has been introduced at the event by the number three of the Junts candidacy, Josep Rull, who has defined him as “a politician in capital letters, solvent and granite in his convictions, reliable and honest”, has launched his most darts thick to the socialist leader but has also reserved some for President Aragonès and Esquerra candidate.
Regarding Illa, he warned, when asked by the deputy director of this newspaper, Enric Sierra, that he lied when he implied yesterday that Junts approached him to promote a motion of censure against Aragonès to call elections when they left the Government in the fall of 2022. “We will not go into the compulsive lies of Mr. Illa,” snapped Turull, who has attributed his words to the nervousness of the socialists and their candidate, who, in his opinion, realize that they may not have victory on Sunday. .
“There is a murmur” (una remor, in Catalan), Turull has repeated on several occasions, alluding to a possible comeback by Junts ahead of May 12 that “the polls do not determine with sufficient accuracy.” But the PSC and Illa have attributed to “nerves and desperation”; also for the announcement to make Major Josep Lluís Trapero head of the Mossos. For the independence leader, if Illa makes this announcement, something that he has called “innocent” without knowing the result of the polls, it is that he already has it agreed with someone. With whom? he asked himself.
In his presentation, Turull has presented Sunday’s elections as a “very decisive” moment for the history of Catalonia in which not only is it chosen who will govern in the coming years but also “we are risking the country and the well-being of future generations.” “, something that, in his opinion, “for better or worse will be irreversible.”
Turull wanted to give special importance to Puigdemont’s return, announced for the investiture debate that will foreseeably take place at the end of June, and wanted to deny those who think, in reference to the socialists, that it will serve to “end an era ”, with which they also “planned to banish many more things” such as “our dreams” of independence. “The return of Puigdemont is a stage of the future, not of the past,” stressed the post-convergent leader, who has called on the Catalans to a “new restart,” an expression that he has reiterated on several occasions, without renouncing “good government.” nor to independence.”
At this point, the general secretary of Junts has outlined four crossroads in which Catalonia finds itself in the electoral process: Nation or region, ambition or resignation, solvency or disarray and leadership or drowsiness. The first crossroads has served Turull to confront the Junts model with that of Illa. “Either we advance as an independent nation or we regress as another region within an increasingly decadent Spain,” he stated.
While the other three have served to discredit the Government of Pere Aragonès, which he sees as “resigned”, “incompetent” and even “docile” and “complicit” with the State in the face of “the threat of centralization” and its “constant” will. ” of “residualize” Catalonia.
In parallel, Turull has been outlining the main programmatic axes of Junts for these elections: ending a fiscal pressure that is leading Catalonia to an “inevitable decline”, defending the Catalan language which he has defined as “the nerve of the nation”, and whose setback he sees as a real threat, to complete what was decided on 1-O and to do so rebuild the independence unity. He has also highlighted the need to take on the demographic challenge to go from the country of 6 million to the country of 8 million inhabitants. “Catalonia does not have the resources or the powers to deal with it,” denounced the independence leader, who has valued the fact of obtaining powers on immigration.
Likewise, he has proposed refounding the public administration of Catalonia to make it more agile. In this regard, Turull has indicated that companies “do not leave because of the process, they leave because of the paperwork.” For this reason, he has considered that we must “move from the administration that says no from the start to the administration that says yes from the start” to people who want to undertake new projects.
Turull has mentioned other problems that haunt Catalonia and that, in his opinion, the ERC Government has not been able to give an effective response, such as “education with more resources than ever and with the worst results in history”, the situation of farmers who, in their opinion, do not see the administration as an ally but rather the opposite, or the drought.
Faced with these issues, for Turull, we need someone to lead, to command, to make decisions. And there are only two possible candidates: Illa or Puigdemont. In his opinion, the socialist candidate cannot boast of good management while the post-convergent candidate has shown that he does not give up, persists, has international alliances, does not look for excuses and looks for solutions. “He carries the nation in his head and in his heart,” summarized Turull, who cannot stand for election as he is still disqualified by the Supreme Court.
In the question period asked by Enric Sierra, Turull made it clear that if finally after 12-M a tripartite Government was formed with Illa at the head and with the support of ERC and the commons, this would have no consequences for the stability of the central Government, but that if Illa became president of the Generalitat thanks to the votes of the PP, Junts would feel freed from the Brussels agreement that it closed with the PSOE after the elections on July 23. “If Illa makes a Collboni, the support in Madrid has ended,” concluded the general secretary of the post-convergents, who would see this agreement as a fraud.
Regarding the possible post-electoral pacts of Junts, the leader has confirmed that if they are the most voted pro-independence formation they will contact the other pro-independence parties to explore the agreement, while ruling out any possibility of giving the votes to Illa or even to seek the votes of the socialists. “Depending on Illa’s votes would be a burden and a mortgage that we cannot have,” he said.
Regarding reaching an agreement with Aragonès, who yesterday removed credibility from the calls for independence unity launched by Puigdemont, Turull recalled that “the president, faced with the situation of complying with the agreements with the PSOE or the investiture agreements when there were contradictions, always prioritized the agreements.” with the PSOE.” Despite this, the nationalist leader has warned that “the bridges have not been broken” and has pointed out that an agreement can be reached if the priority is for there to be an independence Government.”
The conference was attended by the former presidents of the Generalitat Artur Mas and José Montilla, as well as the president of the Parliament, Anna Erra, and the party’s senior staff with the spokespersons in the Parliament and in Congress, Albert Batet and Miriam Nogueras, the former mayor of Barcelona Xavier Trias and even Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye.
