Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC), founded in 1974 in a clandestine meeting in Montserrat promoted by a meeting of Barça supporters clubs, lowered the blind in July 2016. But it never left. It was always there. Since then, in one way or another, despite the fragmentation, its gene has survived and persisted in the different parties of the so-called post-convergent space, those that have succeeded the formation that ruled Catalonia alone for 23 consecutive years with Jordi Pujol (1980 -2003), and another five with Artur Mas (2010-2015). In addition, up to three groups that today have representation in Parliament, in different ways and to a lesser or greater extent, aspire to represent what Convergència meant, although nobody says so.
These are some of the conclusions of Núria Orriols (Berga, 1992) in Convergència. metamorfosi o extinció (Angle Editorial), published last January. Among other aspects, the journalist inquires about the mutation of a central and moderate space of Catalan politics capable of bringing together different sectors –with different sensibility in the left-right axis or in the national axis, also in the economic and social spheres– under a single label in an independentist formation; or about the reasons that led to dissolving the party and founding a new one when they were in power and headed the Generalitat.
The work ranges from the disputes between Pujol and Miquel Roca within the party in the 1990s –keys to understanding the end of the CDC, due to its excessive links to the figure of the former president–, to the last chapters of the post-convergent space in the autumn of 2022: the abrupt departure of Junts per Catalunya from the coalition government with Esquerra.
With a style that runs between the journalistic report, the historical novel -due to the intrigues, betrayals and reconciliations and the many human ties involved in the development of events- and the essay, Orriols reviews the sovereignist metamorphosis that took place gradually. with the generational change at the beginning of the century; the rise of Mas to the leadership of the CDC and his journey until he reached the Palau de la Generalitat surrounded by a core of faithful – the pinyol – who would later break up in disputes over influence over the already president; an ascent to power outlined in “Operació Canonges”, a road map designed by David Madí, an omnipresent figure in that political space, always behind the scenes. Likewise, the foundation of the PDECat and the divorce of the new party with Carles Puigdemont, and the genesis of Junts per Catalunya – the name that Mas and Puigdemont wanted for what later became the PDECat – are not missing from the appointment.
The book, prepared over more than two years with more than 60 interviews with the protagonists, addresses the last 30 years of the convergent space and provides new details and some insights, such as a dinner for the now former Junts ministers, when it was put on the table the possible departure of the Government in autumn, which ended with tears and a slamming of the door, another dinner, the moment in which Mas first proposed lowering the CDC blind, in 2015, or Pujol’s meeting with the party’s young sovereignists in 1999.
One of the actors who have played a leading role in the show in the last decade highlighted when the book was published that there is no episode narrated in the play, a kind of guide to understand the dynamics of a complex space that navigates between movement politician and the traditional party, that he can deny.
Orriols concludes that Junts is not Convergència, but adds that Convergència does live in Junts. In this sense, a party leader stated a few weeks ago in an informal meeting that independence is for Junts what nationalism and self-government meant for CDC. “JxCat is like a 21st century Convergence”, he summed up.
“What are the causes of the mutation from Convergència to independence? What drives you to your own dissolution? What is the cause of the fragmentation and subsequent radicalization of this political space?” are the questions posed by the author and which she tries to resolve in the almost 400 pages of the book.
With all these elements, at a time when the former president Pujol has returned to public life and has been rehabilitated by JxCat leaders in various events and in which the Junts candidate for mayor of Barcelona, ??the former mayor Xavier Trias, claims without holding back its convergent baggage, it is a more than pertinent work, in which details are revealed that help to understand what happened. In addition, in recent months the pragmatic sector of Junts has openly and increasingly claimed a legacy that in the first years after the dissolution they tried to hide, the convergent legacy. For this reason, it is not surprising that Pujol and Mas, two emblematic figures of the old CDC who are not members of the new formation, have attended Junts events to support Trias or the general secretary, Jordi Turull.
If all of the above is taken into account, it is normal that from time to time a question arises that sometimes remains unresolved. Was it a mistake to dissolve that party? Some say yes, while others shrug their shoulders because there is no going back. In any case, the end of this story is open and remains at the mercy of the events that are to come, with several chapters to write and unknowns to clear up.
