The possibility of re-editing a pro-independence government is one of the scenarios envisioned after the Catalan elections of May 12, but given the precedents and the open disputes between the two main formations in this space, Junts and ERC, the new alliance would be born under obvious signs of distrust. The candidates of both parties, Carles Puigdemont and Pere Aragonès, once again showed signs of latent mistrust on Sunday with mutual reproaches for the lack of unity of the independence movement in Catalonia.
Puigdemont is clear that his chances of being invested and returning to govern the Generalitat depend on obtaining the support of a diminished ERC at the polls. He starts from a victorious position on 12-M, although not necessarily above the PSC, so that the seats he obtains added to those of ERC – and perhaps the rest of the pro-independence parties – add up to a majority against the constitutionalist bloc. His plan is, therefore, to revive the process to “give continuity to that legal declaration of the Parliament”, in reference to the unilateral declaration of independence on October 27, 2017. To do this, it would be necessary to recover “unity”, a will which he already noted at the Elna conference in which he proclaimed his candidacy.
The post-convergent sees it likely that on 12-M he will surpass ERC and the “technical tie that exists in the pro-independence world, which has paralyzed us,” will be broken. That is why he maintains that with Oriol Junqueras’ party “we do not have to have a face to face, but rather work side by side”, in reference to the debate that the Republicans raise with the former president, and he even assures that if ERC were to remain above and If the pro-independence majority maintained, Junts would try again to “be part of an independence government.”
But at the same time, Puigdemont questions the orthodoxy of his rival, urging him to clarify whether they share the same objective as before, independence, or on the contrary, they would opt for an autonomist tripartite with socialists and commoners. “I have not yet heard any firm position from ERC that they will not negotiate with the PSC,” he launched in an interview in the newspaper Ara in which he reproached the Republicans for having until now believed “much more in disunity” between pro-independence forces.
Aragonès responded to his rival this Sunday. “Unity is not preached, but rather practiced,” he taught, regretting the attitude of Junts in a legislature in which he ended up leaving the Catalan Executive due to insurmountable disagreements with the ERC Cabinet. “What we have seen in the last three years from Junts, unfortunately, has been very far from this,” he reproached.
Aragonès avoided “speculating” about post-electoral scenarios. He stressed that his pact policy after the 12-M elections will be conditioned to the proposals that can be deployed for the next four years and that “the PSC is very far” from the postulates proposed by ERC.
For the socialists, who aspire to govern alone, a new government pact between Junts and ERC would be the “failure of politics” and “going back to the past”, according to the number two on the lists, Alícia Romero.
