Esquerra closes its 29th national congress today in Lleida in a complicated context, with the new budgets still up in the air and with a minority and meager support from the Parliament to the Government. Pere Aragonès was forced to give in on Thursday to the PSC's proposal on the B-40 highway, much to his regret and against the postulates of the Republicans. The endorsement of the Socialists for the Catalan accounts and, by extension, the continuity of the monocolor Executive may depend on this project. For all this, today the president thanked the more than a thousand militants gathered for "the maturity" that, in his opinion, is demonstrating his party "in the face of complex decisions." “Governing, leading and deciding is not easy (…). We are very grateful for the empathy, complicity and understanding”, Aragonès wanted to emphasize.
This understanding has allowed, according to Aragonès, that today it is possible to count on a “strong, consolidated, solid Government, with clear things”. All this despite the evident wear and tear that the contradictions assumed with the budget negotiation may have for ERC. The president's gratitude is justified especially after the reaction of the two federations of his party most affected by the possible construction of the route of the B-40 to improve the connection between Terrassa, Sabadell and Castellar del Vallès. Thus, yesterday the two federations of Vallès Oriental and Vallès Occidental issued a statement that made clear their support for the Government.
"We understand that the country is going through very serious times that need a budget boost, and that is why we must take advantage of all opportunities to unravel a parliamentary agreement to approve them", reads the text before adding that We are aware of the situation and we assume the decision of the Government, due to responsibility and commitment to the general interest of the country and in view of the situation of social urgency.
ERC number two, Marta Rovira, has also spoken about wear. The general secretary has accused those of Illa of "playing to wear down" the president of the Generalitat. The Republican recalled that the budgets "are not from Junts, nor from the PSC, nor from ERC; they belong to the citizens." And she has come to the conclusion that "there is too much tacticalism and partisanship."
But Rovira, who has intervened from Geneva, has also had critical words with the independence movement itself. "The latest pro-independence demonstrations in the streets have not had an inclusive character, they have not had an attitude of adding up," he stated, bearing in mind the demonstrations for La Diada and the fifth anniversary of 1-O, as well as the protest on 19 January before the Spanish-French summit in Barcelona, where Oriol Junqueras was booed on several occasions by some of those present.
With the budget negotiation with the PSC open -contacts are resumed on Monday-, Aragonès has preferred not to fuel the controversy with Salvador. On the other hand, Marta Vilalta, deputy general secretary, has reproached the Socialists in a veiled way for their negotiating position. "Some see politics as all or nothing, as permanent blackmail, as a Machiavellian anything goes," she said. However, Vilalta's words also resonate in the ears of Junts: "Some believe that negotiating is giving up or that building consensus is giving up."
Vilalta, like Aragonès, has called on the militants to feel proud of their leaders in the Government. “Head up, this week too”, he has come to say, “because complex decisions are for the brave”. The party leader has appreciated that the "collective interest" has been "preserved" with the budgets and that, according to her reasoning, "a lesson in responsibility" has been given.
But the complexity of the budget negotiation is not the only thorn in the Republican side. The dialogue table is totally frozen and with it the aspiration of a referendum on self-determination. The clarity agreement that Aragonès demands to set the conditions for a referendum does not start. With these wickerwork, the head of the Government has appealed to the State to stop treating the independentistas "permanently as minors."
The president has insisted on the idea that in Catalonia there is a majority in favor of a referendum on self-determination and has encouraged the independence movement to forge that clear agreement. "The conflict is not over (...), it can only be resolved by voting," he stressed. “It is time to overcome disputes and blockades, to find solutions and put democracy, the ballot box and votes back at the center of the political debate”, he reiterated.
This congress was attended by representatives of Catalan trade unions and employers, as well as different social and civil associations. Also political formations of Junts, the CUP or Democrates de Catalunya. However, the attendance of members of the commons stands out, with whom the Republicans have an agreement since December 14 for the budgets of the Generalitat, and of the PSC, with whom they continue with conversations to approve the accounts, although it is limited to a minor representation such as the Vice-First Secretary of the Baix Llobregat Federation
Congress will approve a new political paper in which the referendum proposal stands out with a minimum of 50% participation and 55% support for yes to independence. The new proposal is based on the 2006 Montenegrin referendum, which set similar conditions on the formula by which Montenegro seceded from Serbia in 2006, and which was recognized by both governments and European institutions. A victory for independence supporters would trigger a "good faith" negotiation process between the Spanish and Catalan executives for the transition to a Catalan republic.
Entitled "The democratic path of the referendum", the political paper that the ERC is about to approve is part of the congressional process that the party began weeks ago and through which Oriol Junqueras and Marta Rovira renewed their positions as president and general secretary in November, respectively. According to Marta Vilalta, with the new document Esquerra "adapts to the current political context."
The text has two large blocks: the steps for a referendum to materialize and the path to articulate “great majorities”. This last aspect goes through, according to the Republicans, "good government" in the meantime. The document has arrived without major changes compared to the one proposed by the leadership to the militancy in mid-December. In any case, the intention to ""Imbricate strategies with the Spanish left and with other nations without a state of the Spanish state and, very especially, with the pro-sovereignty organizations of the rest of the Catalan Countries, that make possible the establishment of republican alliances has been incorporated. dedicated to defending, everywhere, the State, self-determination, democratic freedoms and the questioning of the monarchical regime". "This collaboration is especially necessary in the face of a hypothetical government of the Spanish right in the next Spanish legislature",
