With proclamations to relaunch the procés and to conclude the dialogue table between the Government and the Generalitat -which in his opinion, with the current conditions, remains more than enough-, Junts yesterday concluded its second congress and a renewal to leave behind the founding stage and enter the post-Puigdemont era. One of the clear conclusions is that the new general secretary, Jordi Turull, emerges stronger from a two-month process in which the now leader of the party has worked at all times to guarantee cohesion and internal peace, with balance and a left hand .
In Argelers, at the beginning of June, it was already clear that the former Minister of the Presidency had more support than the president of the formation, Laura Borràs, who until that day had swept the primary elections to which he had been presented. In La Farga de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, those related to the general secretary also had a majority and in some moments of tension they brought out the roller in the debate on how the party should be organized and power distributed. But it was always done in a controlled way and issues that could erode unity were left aside. In this way, the most institutional and pragmatic sector, despite the fact that a pact was sealed with a 50% distribution of forces, has gained momentum against those who make the most noise.
“In the end, what was done is to guarantee compliance with the agreement that Turull and Borràs sealed at the beginning of May”, point out consulted sources, a pact that was forged to avoid a congress with confrontation of projects and division less than a year after the start the next election cycle. The municipal strategy for the local elections falls on the institutional sector, on Turull himself and his right-hand man, deputy David Saldoni. This has been to the detriment of the secretary of organization that Borràs proposed, the councilor of Badalona David Torrents, who was knocked down by the militancy in Argelers and was later hired by the executive.
Thus, the party has renewed its leadership –former minister Josep Rull returns to the political front line as president of the national council–, and has also updated the political roadmap, in which shocks and maximalist positions that had been left in the debates on the agreement with Esquerra for the Govern or the one of the Diputación de Barcelona with the PSC. To avoid future controversies, a list of conditions has been left written to agree on in municipalities, county councils and county councils. The priority is the understanding between independentists, but the autonomy of local leaders will be respected and with the current wording it is not prohibited to agree with the socialists.
At the same time, the pro-independence pretensions are not lowered one millimeter, the rejection of the dialogue table remains black on white and there is talk of recomposing the pro-independence unity and returning to “taking action” without waiting to broaden the sovereignist base.
The priorities of training or the country model in the sectoral spheres have also been marked. A draft and an orientation to avoid improvising in the next electoral programs. It is requested to abolish the inheritance and gift tax and analyze whether it is feasible to remove the wealth tax. In the fiscal field, it is also committed to lowering the maximum income tax bracket –from 50% to 45%–, and raising the minimum tax-exempt level.
Likewise, the statutes have been updated and a safeguard has been introduced so that Borràs is not expelled or suspended if an oral trial is opened for the alleged splitting of contracts to favor a friend when he directed the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes (ILC ). The Prosecutor’s Office asks for six years in prison and 21 years of disqualification. Internal sanctions will not be applied for cases that are considered lawfare (legal war), and the decision in each situation will be made by the guarantee commission.
An amendment from the affiliates wanted to eliminate that protection, but in the end it was withdrawn. “If it had been wanted, it would have been approved, just like the proposal to remove executive functions from Borràs and others that affected him, but there was an agreement and it is respected,” sources from the formation point out.
The division between sectors and families has been one of the characteristic features of JxCat since its foundation, and it was a threat that was on the horizon after Jordi Sànchez stepped back in April. That’s why he set duties: order and unity to reach adulthood. The balance of the congress, not exempt from pulses and struggles in each vote, is that the fracture has been avoided at a complex moment, in which the Borràs case can strain the seams of the Government coalition. That’s another story.
