Esquerra is now the closest thing to a student on his first day at college: disoriented, he only knows where the bar is. The party is touched and is looking for a way to recover from the considerable drop in the municipal elections. He strives so that the generals of July 23 do not become a second blow. The sovereignist democratic front proposed by Pere Aragonès is designed to avoid it, but Oriol Junqueras wants another buttress, he proposes adding expertise and experience in Madrid, and yesterday he announced that the Minister of Climate Action, Teresa Jordà , will do a tandem with Gabriel Rufián.
The two are already old cats in Congress. Jordà was a deputy in Madrid from 2011 to 2018, the year in which she was appointed Minister of Agriculture under the mandate of Quim Torra. The initiative, however, to include it as number two in the Republican candidacy hints at a maneuver that goes a little beyond the short-termism of also trying to reinforce itself by July 23 or possibly a modification of the Catalan Executive before this date: that of a remodeling of the Government that acts as a shock after a hypothetical and new disaster in the general elections. Government sources suggest it.
In any case, other sources from the Catalan Cabinet also point out to the contrary that the changes could take place earlier and ensure that they do not work “based on the general ones”. However, that there will be movement of chips in the Government is guaranteed.
With the 2023 budgets approved, the Catalan Executive is clear that they can try to develop their government program until the end of this year. Furthermore, the prospect of approving new accounts is practically nil, with elections in the Parliament of Catalonia that it is assumed that the president of the Generalitat would call for the first half of 2024, if the decision is not made earlier.
ERC has not managed to capitalize on its action in the Government to obtain electoral revenue, no matter how much it has done, for example, of the free education in P2 or of the anticipated measures against the drought. Nor do aspects such as the reform of the Penal Code seem to have acted in favor of the party at the polls.
In addition, the Government, with only 33 parliamentarians supporting it, is weak and has seen how up to two ministers have been disapproved: Joan Ignasi Elena (Interior) and Carles Campuzano (Drets Socials). But the most discussed, without a doubt, is Josep Gonzà lez-Cambray. The Minister of Education has been on a tightrope for a long time, immersed as he has been in continuous conflicts with unions, teachers and students, practically since the Aragonès legislature began in May 2021.
Some bad results on 23-J could cause changes in the Government and would leave the leadership of the formation touched.
In any case, the fall of Esquerra on May 28 in the municipal elections was considerable. The loss of more than 300,000 votes compared to those of 2019 has called into question the way of doing things for the Republicans.
Those of Oriol Junqueras deny that their pacts with the PSOE in Madrid and with the PSC for the budgets of the Generalitat have had anything to do with it. They attribute the abstention of the pro-independence electorate and the consequent debacle of the formation at the polls to the continuous fights between the pro-independence parties.
The first reaction of Pere Aragonès was to appeal to form a sovereignist common front to “defend Catalonia against the threat” of a government in Moncloa of the PP and Vox. The idea, for the moment, has not quite come to fruition, especially due to the lack of agreement between independentistas to form municipal governments. The great beneficiary is the PSC, so far thanks especially to the succession of agreements that it is sealing with Junts.
Be that as it may, with Jordà on the Barcelona list for the Congress, ERC hopes to add a new element of resistance. Junqueras justified the inclusion of the minister in the list. “In these elections we are at stake so much that we are practically risking almost everything as a country and for the defense of Catalonia,” said Junqueras during the national council that the party held yesterday morning in Barcelona.
As the leader of ERC, from the Government they affirmed that Jordà is a key piece in the Government and of the utmost confidence of the President of the Generalitat, while stressing that he will continue to lead Climate Action until Aragonès “considers making it effective I take over”.
The almost four years in the CUP Congress have not been a passing adventure. He will repeat in Madrid. This was decided by his militancy in the vote that he had to decide if the formation presented lists for the general elections on July 23. 1,282 people have participated and 61% of them have endorsed the candidacy. The political council of the organization yesterday morning in Sant Pere de Ribes served to verify these numbers. Albert Botran and Mireia Vehà will seek to repeat as deputies, this time number one in Barcelona and Girona.
