Esquerra is now the closest thing to a student on his first day at college: disoriented, he only knows where the bar is. The party is affected and is looking for a way to recover from the considerable decline in the municipal elections. Efforts are being made so that the generals of July 23 do not become a second patacada. The sovereignist democratic front proposed by Pere Aragonès is designed to avoid it, but Oriol Junqueras wants another foothold, proposes to add expertise to Madrid and announced yesterday that the Climate Action Councilor, Teresa Jordà , will work in tandem with Gabriel Rufián.
Both are old cats in Congress. Jordà was a deputy in Madrid from 2011 to 2018, the year in which she was appointed Minister of Agriculture under the mandate of Quim Torra. The initiative, however, to include it as number two in the candidacy of the Republicans suggests a maneuver that goes a little beyond the short-termism of also trying to strengthen itself for July 23 or possibly a modification of the Catalan Executive before that date: that of a reshuffle of the Government that acts as a shocker after a hypothetical new defeat in the general elections. This is what Government sources suggest.
In any case, other sources from the Catalan Cabinet also point out to the contrary that the changes could occur earlier and assure that they do not work “according to the generals”. However, that there will be movement of chips in the Government is guaranteed.
With the 2023 budgets approved, it is clear to the Catalan Executive that they can try to develop their government program until the end of this year. Beyond that, the prospect of approving new accounts is practically nil, with elections to the Parliament of Catalonia that it is taken for granted that the president of the Generalitat would call for the first half of 2024, if the decision is not rushed for before
ERC has not managed to capitalize on its action in the Government to obtain electoral income, no matter how much it has flagged, for example, free education in P2 or the anticipated measures against the drought. Nor do aspects such as the reform of the Penal Code seem to have acted in favor of the party at the polls.
In addition, the Government, with only 33 parliamentarians supporting it, is weak and has seen how up to two councilors have been disqualified: Joan Ignasi Elena (Interior) and Carles Campuzano (Social Rights). But the most discussed, without a doubt, is Josep Gonzà lez-Cambray. The Minister of Education has been on a tightrope for some time, immersed as he has been in continuous conflicts with unions, teachers and students, practically since the Aragonese legislature began in May 2021.
Bad results on 23-J could cause changes in the Government and would leave the top of the training affected.
In any case, the fall of Esquerra on May 28 in the municipal elections was considerable. The loss of more than 300,000 votes compared to those of 2019 has called into question the Republicans’ way of doing things.
Those of Oriol Junqueras deny that their pacts with the PSOE in Madrid and with the PSC for the budgets of the Generalitat had anything to do with it. They attribute the abstention of the pro-independence electorate and the consequent decline in voting to the continuous fights between the pro-independence parties.
The first reaction of Pere Aragonès was to appeal to form a sovereignist common front to “defend Catalonia in view of the threat” of a government in Moncloa of the PP and Vox. At the moment, the idea has not quite taken off, especially due to the lack of understanding between pro-independence supporters to form municipal governments. The big beneficiary is the PSC, so far thanks especially to the succession of agreements it is sealing with Junts.
Be that as it may, with Jordà on the Barcelona list at the Congress, ERC hopes to add a new element of resistance. Junqueras justified the inclusion of the councilor in the list. “In these elections we gamble so much that we practically gamble almost everything as a country and in the defense of Catalonia”, assured Junqueras during the national council that the party held yesterday morning in Barcelona.
Like the leader of ERC, from the Government they affirmed that Jordà is a key piece of the Government and of the utmost confidence of the President of the Generalitat, at the same time they stressed that he will continue at the head of Acció Climà tica until Aragonès “considers to take effect the relay”.
