In last year’s general elections, Junts’ main complaint was that the elections were for Catalonia. In the electoral campaign of May 12, with more reason, the party of Carles Puigdemont repeats this message, especially after the situation of the president of the central government, Pedro Sánchez, impacted like a meteorite in the Catalan contest 24 hours after it began.
“Catalonia will not be the float of the PSOE”, proclaimed yesterday the Junts candidate, who added that his formation is interested in “the future of Catalonia, not the future of a political party or a person”. in allusion to Sánchez. “We are interested in the future of our children and independence”, added the former president, who again criticized the first secretary and candidate of the PSC, Salvador Illa, for going to the meeting of the PSOE federal committee held in Madrid on Saturday place to campaign in Catalonia. “They don’t hide from it (…) they are more interested in talking to their colleagues in Madrid than in explaining their proposals for Catalonia”, argued the pro-independence leader. “When the country or the party is at stake, they choose the party; between Catalonia and Madrid, they choose Madrid”, he replied.
Thus, the leader of Junts stressed that these elections “go from Catalonia more than ever”. “The future of the Catalan language, the future of the educational system and the demographic future of the country”, because “there is a low birth rate and a long life expectancy”, said the leader, with a demand for the transfer of competences in matters of ‘immigration to the Generalitat. “We have a colossal demographic challenge and we want to manage it from Catalonia. That’s why we want the competences in the matter of immigration”, he justified. “All this will not be resolved by the PSOE or its delegate [Illa]”, concluded the post-convergence leader, who also wanted to send another message to the central government: Without an economic concert there will be no general state budgets with the vote favorable of Together.
The ex-president accused the socialists of recentralizing powers during the pandemic and of not solving the fiscal deficit situation – estimated by him at 20,000 million euros – and the low budget execution. “Now we have the button to collar the Spanish State… You already know that we say no when the interests of Catalonia are not defended and we will not approve any budget that does not resolve this situation of injustice”, he warned.
The post-convergents are also targeting the leader of the PSC, who is first in the polls. Those from Junts, however, claim that they can stay ahead and stand as the only force that can “win and lead” after 12-M. For this reason, Puigdemont asked that the sovereignist vote be concentrated in Junts and he directed a warning to those who encourage abstention – in the previous electoral cycle independenceism waned – and the sovereignists who vote for another option. “Don’t be fooled, this only ends in two ways. Either we put the country in the hands of a tripartite party that will go to Madrid to receive instructions or we put Catalonia in the hands of a president who goes to Madrid to give instructions and stand up”, he summarized.
