The president of the Generalitat sees nothing but vagueness in Junts per Catalunya regarding the resolution of the political conflict with the State. While he himself and Esquerra maintain their firm commitment to the dialogue table between the Spanish and Catalan governments, the Republicans demand that the postconvergents make “concrete proposals” beyond threatening to leave the Government. “Intelligent confrontation lacks chicha”, they reason from ERC. Yesterday Pere Aragonès asked the ministers of JxCat for the same thing, that their formation concrete and put alternative options to dialogue on the table.
It was during the first meeting of the Consell Executiu of this political year. Aragonès responded in this way through the post-convergent councilors to Junts, who on Monday gave themselves a one-month margin, until the general policy debate in the Parliament from September 27 to 30, to finish deciding and resolve whether to consult the militancy or not to determine if he has to leave the Government. In fact, in Esquerra they consider that the warning from Laura Borràs and Jordi Turull on Monday is not even an ultimatum to the Republicans, but rather a “kick the ball forward” by JxCat. In addition, they remember that the president announced a few days ago that he will propose in that debate a “broad proposal” for self-determination beyond independence.
Junts believes that the Government is moving away from the objective of independence. Half of the ministers are from their ranks, but they try to stay out of the controversy. Aragonès’s request to all members of the Catalan Executive to let the political parties determine their positions and motivations, “with the utmost responsibility”, was not excessive, but it was not very necessary either.
The spokeswoman for the Government, Patrícia Plaja, was in charge yesterday at a press conference of making the president’s reasoning known to the press. She assured that Aragonès stated at the meeting that he “will always be willing to listen to concrete proposals from around the world, in all areas, especially in the resolution of the political conflict with the Spanish State.” But she did so by demanding responsibility from JxCat due to the complex economic situation that is coming and that requires, in the opinion of the entire Government, that the 2023 budgets be approved in a timely manner, as happened last year. “It has gone through ups and downs, we know that it is not easy and that [independence] is not close to us, but we remain determined to move forward,” said the spokeswoman, who stressed that both the social and national axis are priorities.
ERC and Aragonès are committed to dialogue. The president strengthened it hours later in Paris, invited by the French employers Medef to a round table entitled “Autonomous or independent. But Europeans first and foremost!” “For a year we have resumed a negotiation process to find a solution to this political conflict,” he recalled to those present and those who participated in the debate at the Longchamp racecourse, outside Paris: former French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, the President of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, and the Vice President of the Guadeloupe Region, Marie-Luce Penchard.
In this talk, Aragonès also defended the aspiration of an independent Catalonia within the European Union. “We define ourselves as Catalan independentists and European federalists,” the Catalan president went on to say.
