The decline in the social use of the Catalan language is one of the reasons that has led Esquerra to propose its own department to defend and promote it. Pere Aragonès has seen Sant Jordi as the ideal moment to call on citizens to “redouble their commitment to the language”, highlighting at the same time that it is a “tool for social lift” and cohesion.
From the Palau de la Generalitat, the president has considered that Sant Jordi’s day is ideal to reaffirm this commitment. [Catalan] has suffered attempts at minoritization and persecution, but today it is a living language,” he stressed. The head of the Government has encouraged Catalan to be maintained “always, in all day-to-day actions”, but also in all professional, communication, cultural and artistic fields.
Aragonès also had time to refer to current political events. The polls continue to place Esquerra as the third force, so it seems more than complicated that in this scenario he can once again run for the presidency of the Generalitat. However, Republicans prefer to ignore the polls. Also Aragonès, who has asserted that “the true and decisive survey will be the one on May 12 with the vote of the citizens.” In any case, the president has stated that the scenario is very open and that ERC continues to be “the alternative to those who have always governed”, in reference to the convergent and post-convergent space.
One of the feasible scenarios is that Junts is ahead of ERC. Perhaps that is why Carles Puigdemont, number one of the post-convergents, has reduced his attacks on the Republicans to a minimum in recent days. A hypothetical Puigdemont presidency, if this situation occurs on May 12, will surely depend on the decision made by ERC. Aragonès, however, has charged again today against Junts and its leader: “I am surprised that these calls for unity come three days before starting the electoral campaign.” “We needed it for the last three years, not for the last three days,” he added.
At this point, the president recalled that Junts did not support the Generalitat’s 2024 budgets and that they also left the Government in October 2022 and stopped working for “the improvement of public services, the promotion of the Catalan language, the defense of the right to decide”. “These appeals arrive a little late,” Aragonès concluded.
The ERC candidate has even indicated that he does not trust Puigdemont. “If he has changed his mind so many times, after May 12 he may change his mind again. I wouldn’t put too much faith in these last-minute calls for unity,” he said.
