The general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, said this Saturday that it is “absolutely undignified” to accuse his party of xenophobia for agreeing on immigration policies with the Government, and has defended assuming responsibilities in fundamental policies instead of avoiding them.
During the party’s National Council in El Morell (Tarragona), he defended that Catalonia “must have a national immigration policy, whether anyone likes it or not.”
“Of course we will also address and want to address the issues of security and coexistence,” he exclaimed to reply to the criticism of Junts, and has assured that his party will not become self-conscious in the face of these reproaches.
Turull has argued that “not acting against repeat offenders, whether they have been living here for 15 days or eight generations, is putting coexistence in danger.”
“Don’t tell us stories: precisely the rise of the extreme right in Europe is, in part, the responsibility of the parties that avoid this debate,” he warned.
For him, avoiding this issue has left “free ground for others to make proposals that are completely incompatible with human rights.”
“This blackmail of accusing us of being xenophobic because we care and want to address this issue of national immigration policy is absolutely unworthy,” he said.
According to Turull, “there is an exhausted, resigned and soon finished Government, but it is also true that there is a very clear alternative that allows working for independence from solvency.”
For him, the agreements that Junts is reaching after the general elections make it decisive without leaving aside the independence movement, and that makes them an alternative to ERC, although he has not mentioned the Republicans at any time.
He added verbatim that Junts is showing itself to be a useful independence movement and that it has a vocation for government, not power: “We act with a state mentality; others act with a party mentality.”
“While some only listen to themselves, we listen to the people. While some let all the important country issues fall apart in their hands due to incompetence or carelessness, we get wet,” he exclaimed.
Turull has reiterated that his party achieves agreements for Catalonia “because Junts has not left home by resigning: Junts has known how to maintain its position, which allows it to go much further.”
“Being decisive in Madrid has not made us less pro-independence; on the contrary,” he insisted.
He recalled that 2023 was marked by two elections, after which the party already has many elected officials: “Now we want to put all this at the service of Catalonia.”
“The ‘In exchange for nothing’ has gone to the trash can of History, and, if anyone had any doubts about that, this week we have proven it again,” he stated.
Thus, he has described the agreements for two royal decrees as transcendent successes, including the achievement of “having a comprehensive immigration policy.”
Furthermore, he highlighted that “now the return of President Puigdemont and the rest of the exiles is on the horizon, thanks to maintaining the position.”
The party leader began his speech by remembering the recently deceased Jordi Jardí, ex-mayor of Tivissa and president of Junts en la Ribera d’Ebre (Tarragona).
He also remembered the former Minister of the Generalitat Oriol Badia and the filmmaker Ventura Pons, also recently deceased.
