The leadership of Catalunya en Comú has offered the former president of the Unidas Podemos parliamentary group, Jaume Asens, to be its candidate for the European elections on June 9. Asens, who was removed from the political front line after his party opted for Aina Vidal as a candidate for the general elections last June 23, is now studying the offer.
As reported by El Periódico and confirmed by La Vanguardia, the three coordinators of Catalunya en Comú – Ada Colau, Candela López and Jéssica Albiach – officially presented the proposal to him this Monday. If he accepts it, Asens would take over from the now Government Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, who left his role as a European parliamentarian this summer to take charge of the ministerial portfolio. In any case, the decision would have to be ratified in a primary process that the party will launch starting with the national council scheduled for February 24.
The choice of Asens is not a surprise. Despite having moved away from the first political line a few months ago, the leader resumed said activity from a secondary sphere. First, in September, he accompanied Yolanda Díaz on her visit to Puigdemont in Brussels, and later, accompanying the negotiations of the PSOE and Junts to agree on the Amnesty law.
In all this time, Asens has emerged as a voice authorized by the commons to comment on the situation, and has clearly placed himself on the side of Sumar and commons in the struggle with Podemos. In fact, Asens, who was one of the founders of Podemos back in 2014, recently announced his resignation from the militancy of Ione Belarra’s party, a decision that Podemos interpreted as a maneuver by Asens to gain merit for his return to the first party. political line led by Sumar.
In a press conference from the Parliament, Albiach assumed that Asens will accept the proposal, ensuring that he has “the best profile” for the task “because de-judicialization and the defense of human rights will be important” in Europe in a scenario of important growth of the extreme right in these elections. “Due to profile, experience and personality, I think he can do very good politics,” he insisted.
The proposal that Asens be the one to lead the Commons candidacy for the European elections comes ahead of the election that Sumar still has pending. Yolanda Díaz’s project is still looking for a candidate and, although she has begun to explore possible names to face Podemos in June, she has yet to bring together a new coalition with the left-wing parties, as she did for the general elections. In any case, the horizon should be clear for the holding of the Sumar constituent assembly scheduled for the spring.
Albiach has admitted that her team has not yet started negotiations with Sumar to configure the joint list, but she has been convinced that Asens “will be in a very good place.”
With this proposal, the commons begin to move the electoral machinery, on which they will also have to decide the candidacy for the Catalan elections which, although they do not yet have a date, are scheduled for this year or, at the latest, for the beginning of next year. Sources from the party assure that before Easter the issue will be resolved and that, without a doubt, Albiach will repeat as a candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat.
