A little more than a month before the May 12 parliamentary elections, the electoral proposals of the candidates are taking shape. After putting on the table and insisting on a referendum on the independence of Catalonia under the protection of article 92 of the Constitution – to which Moncloa closes the door -, the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, promised yesterday that if he is re-elected he will create a specific ministry for Catalan.
“My commitment is that in the next legislature, if I continue to be president of the Generalitat, a Ministry for the Catalan language will be created. It is a challenge that must be placed at the highest level of the Government”, said the fellow candidate of Esquerra Republicana after visiting the Arnau Berenguer school in Palau d’Anglesola (Pla d’Urgell).
The president’s concern has to do with the social use of Catalan, beyond the actions put in place by the Administration to promote the language. “That there is a councilor sitting at the government table whose main mission is the defense of the social use of the Catalan language, of linguistic rights, will allow us to do this cross-cutting work”, said Aragonès.
Likewise, in another order of things, the head of the Catalan Executive, who after May 12 will exercise this position acting, asserted that if he returns to head the government of the Generalitat he will have the current councilor of ‘Empresa i Treball, Roger Torrent, who has dropped from the ERC lists for the parliamentary elections. In 2020, the then president of Parliament had calibrated his options to be the Republican candidate, but Aragones finally prevailed. “If it’s up to me, I’ll be delighted to continue to count on him in the next legislature as a councillor”, concluded the president, who assured that he is in mind “for the government’s economic team”.
In relation to the refusal expressed by the central government on an agreed referendum, claimed by both ERC and Junts, the republican leader believes that there are indeed options. “They always told us no and then ended up saying yes”, pointed out the president.
“In the face of a no from the central government, more commitment on my part, and we continue to work because I am convinced that what today is a no, if we are able to unite the efforts and will of the Catalans, tomorrow will be a yes”, remarked Aragonès .
