Last Friday we wrote that Esquerra was on the verge of making momentous decisions after the step back caused by its results in the municipal elections. After rigorous reflection, the management of ERC has seen clearly that the great opportunity to regain the lost vote is to take advantage of the showcase that leads the Government of the Generalitat. The Catalan legislature has just passed the Equator and these first two years have been marked by the crisis between ERC and Junts, which led to the departure of the seconds from the Generalitat, and by the difficult relations with the central government to obtain pardons for prisoners pro-independence and then the reform of the Penal Code. There has been too much noise that has hampered the work of Pere Aragonès’ team. The proximity of the municipal councils had also embarrassed the Republican leadership, which feared making decisions that would be unpopular among its bases.
Now, aside from the 23-J elections, Esquerra has all that is left of the legislature until February 2025 to try to convey the image that it can and knows how to govern. For this it was important to repair the things that had not gone as well as they should and to bring experience to the Executive Council. For which nothing better than to recover Anna Simó and Ester Capella, who already know what it is to be part of the Government. The change in Climate Action is minor because the new councillor, David Mascort, already had a lot of decision-making weight in the department.
Republicans should appreciate that it is true that they lost votes in the municipal elections, but that these votes did not go to their rivals. PSC, Junts, the commons and the CUP also recorded losses. The only way to recover the upward trend that Esquerra had in recent years is to try to govern well despite its parliamentary minority.
And that the citizen perceives that, beyond the goal, distant or not, of the longed-for independence to which they say they aspire, there is a government that is trying to solve the serious problems that Catalonia has and that in recent years it seemed that they didn’t worry anyone.
