The escalation of tension between ERC and Junts that has led to the rupture of the Government of Catalonia is fueled by old grievances, the frictions of the procés, the different strategies and the arrival in 2021 at the Palau of an ERC president. This is a look at the main crises in a year and a half of legislature.
1. The backpacks. ERC and Junts (or their previous brands) have been forging different alliances to govern for 12 years, enough time for two electoral adversaries to accumulate misgivings and reproaches, a situation that worsened after the referendum. The different paths chosen by Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras are a metaphor of how the strategy of their parties forked. The distrust, the crossed accusations of disloyalty in the books and articles written since Waterloo and Lledoners prison illustrate the not only strategic but also emotional distance between ERC and Junts.
2. Investiture in extremis. After three months of negotiations, and to avoid electoral repetition, ERC and Junts sealed an agreement for the investiture at the last minute, after ERC had already signed another one with the CUP on its own. In the ERC and Junts agreement, issues of friction such as the dialogue table were resolved with little precision, which allowed each one to make their interpretation and a war of reproaches was opened.
3. Dialogue table. The configuration and objectives of this table with the Spanish Government to overcome the conflict condenses various frictions. It cracked a year ago when Aragonès refused to accept JxCat representatives who were not ministers. The postconvergents have not returned to a negotiation that they also consider does not address what was agreed: amnesty and self-determination. The Republicans give relevance to the negotiation and the process of dejudicialization.
4. The Madrid front. The dynamics in the Congress of Deputies is another source of tension. The relationship between Gabriel Rufián and Miriam Nogueras is bad. The Republicans, with more seats (13) have greater negotiating capacity with the Government than Junts (4), which calls for a common strategy.
5. General Staff. Another of the points that JxCat demanded to continue in the Government was the reconfiguration of a strategic direction of independence. Rains, it pours. This "general staff" was launched at the beginning of the legislature with the participation of ERC, Junts, the CUP, ANC, Òmnium and the Consell per la República. It ceased to be active in the spring of 2022 due to misgivings that Puigdemont was leading it.
6. The suspension of Borràs. In July, ERC joined the PSC and the CUP to apply the regulation and suspend the president of the Parliament, Laura Borràs, when an oral trial was opened for a cause of alleged corruption. To underline what he considers an injustice, for which he blames ERC, Junts refuses to look for a replacement for Borràs.
7. Eleventh of September. The demonstration brought out the tension of the independence movement. Neither President Aragonès nor the ERC ministers attended the ANC call, upset with the manifesto against the Catalan institutions.
8. Five years after 1-O. The referendum was able to unite the independence movement, but since then it only shows its fracture. Last Tuesday, Aragonès announced in the Parlament his proposal for an independence referendum agreed with the State, and on Saturday Puigdemont gave the reply from the rally for the five years of 1-O: "We have already done the referendum, it is valid and you don't have to do it again."
9. Two cheap folders. ERC and Junts have different economic models, with discrepancies in matters such as the wealth tax or the expansion of the airport. To approve the budgets, the Government has had the support of the commons, but Junts refuses to appear in the photo, despite the fact that this year's budgets were piloted, from a distance, by Minister Giró.
10. Question of trust. The big bang comes in the general policy debate. Junts spokesman, Albert Batet, points out that Aragonès should submit to a matter of trust. The president says enough and the next day he announces the dismissal of Vice President Puigneró. Junts opened the consultation to the militancy.
