In all the shortlists of Junts candidates for the presidency of the Generalitat in recent months the name of Carles Puigdemont appeared. Two years ago, the party leader decided to take a step back and leave the presidency of the party, but the political scene has returned the former president to the fore and he has been the protagonist of JxCat’s negotiations with the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and the approval of an Amnesty law that will materialize today in Congress, if there is no unexpected outcome.
Just after knowing the call for the parliamentary elections on May 12, the party pointed to him as a candidate without hesitation. He is the man who brings together all the sensibilities of the post-convergents. In fact, in the absence of official anointing, all the Junts leaders had already pointed out him, and yesterday the general secretary, Jordi Turull, did so again. Shortly after, the now MEP finished the job from Strasbourg.
Puigdemont did not confirm that he will head the Junts list, but he did not rule it out either and gave some clue. By the time the full Parliament elects the new president, he could already be back in Catalonia. He added that he would be excited about it. “With the calendar it is evident that I will be able to be in the investiture debate and I would be very excited to be present in Parliament more than six years and four months later,” said the independence leader, who recalled that when the Amnesty law comes into force , within a maximum period of two months the precautionary measures that affect the defendants of the process should fall, apart from the appeals and prejudicial consultations that the courts elevate to higher instances such as the European justice or the Constitutional Court.
“It is quite reasonable that he could be in the next investiture debate,” concluded Puigdemont, who asserted that when he makes a decision about his candidacy he will make it public.
In any case, the new political scenario affects the initial plans of the former president, who was going to be the JxCat candidate in the European elections in June and did not contemplate returning to Catalonia until autumn. Although every time the word elections is heard, eyes turn to Puigdemont in Junts, months ago, according to his collaborators, he did not plan to be the candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat and, in any case, he planned to meditate on that decision later. However, the calendar is pressing and, once again, the decision at Junts will be made at the last minute.
Beyond the former president, Turull himself and the former councilors Josep Rull and Jaume Giró were also in the pools. In any case, if Puigdemont takes the step, no one will dispute his leadership for 12-M.
Although it does not have a designated candidate, JxCat had demanded an early electoral call several times since leaving the Government in 2022, and yesterday the president of Junts in the Parliament, Albert Batet, made that demand to President Pere Aragonès again. However, beforehand the leader extended his hand to the Government for a budget agreement if he accepted a tax reduction, reducing inheritances instead of giving it a complete bonus as JxCat initially requested.
