CiU and JxCat, a different journey through the desert

Before Junts decided to leave the Govern, when it was only a possibility that was raised in internal forums, the opposition of Convergència i Unió (CiU) returned to the imagination of some, what former president Artur Mas later called “ crossing through the desert” –without a dromedary and without a canteen–.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
24 October 2022 Monday 02:34
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CiU and JxCat, a different journey through the desert

Before Junts decided to leave the Govern, when it was only a possibility that was raised in internal forums, the opposition of Convergència i Unió (CiU) returned to the imagination of some, what former president Artur Mas later called “ crossing through the desert” –without a dromedary and without a canteen–. A situation that lasted from 2003 to 2010.

The protagonists of that stage agree that it has nothing to do with the present, since then CiU left Palau forced by the tripartite pact of PSC, Esquerra and Initiative. This time the decision has been made by the JxCat militancy. Furthermore, the Convergers were the first force, while the Post-Convergents are the third group in the Chamber. There are more differences and regrets... but there are also positive readings of that period because of the opportunities it provided, and the changes it allowed.

Mas recalls that 20 years ago CiU "had the key to the vault" of the legislature, to address "the big issue", the Statute that had to come out of Parliament. A two-thirds majority was required and without their participation there was no possible equation. Now, says the former president, the budgets could be approved without JxCat. "What CiU did at that time was decisive and what Junts does is not so much," he says. In addition, he points out that they had a cohesive and compact party, a consolidated trajectory and a clear and recognizable leadership, something that, in his opinion, does not happen now. "Convergència was a match made and JxCat is being made, and it was much more compact than Junts now, with territorial implantation. [...] There was a leadership recognized and accepted by the vast majority of the formation and now that is not so evident , and I am not referring to Carles Puigdemont, but to those who are in the front line", contrasts Mas.

Broadly speaking, other actors such as the former minister Felip Puig, who was the parliamentary spokesman, the then secretary of organization of Convergència (CDC), Lluís Corominas, or the then secretary of organization of Unió (UDC), Toni Castellà –the the only one that still has political responsibilities – make a similar analysis, each one with its own nuances.

Corominas explains that what they experienced in 2003, when the first tripartite was forged, was new for them. "We had never been in the opposition and we had taken over the leadership, it was a hard blow," he admits.

Puig, who is a member of the PDECat, considers that JxCat faces its role in the opposition "without much expectation of winning the elections, unlike what happened with CiU", and sees in "the current leadership a" point of internal contradiction ” and that there is “lack of definition of the ideological, strategic and political project”. “Junts is increasingly far from being identified with what CiU was at the time”, she adds. “Then there was a capacity for reaction and it was possible not to consolidate a hegemony of the left beyond two legislatures”, she recalls. "I'd like to see that capability now and in the future," she says.

The positive readings of that journey through the desert are also more or less shared by all. Mas and Puig underline that many party structures were “modernized” and “updated”, territorial and sectoral leaderships were renewed and the ideology was reinforced and updated in depth. "We tanned", summarizes the former president. “Being in the opposition with a cohesive party and dominating the political agenda is an opportunity to harden yourself and grow a leadership,” he values. "I came to the presidency in 2010, among other things, because I had forged myself as a leader in the opposition and had received slaps from all sides. Another different thing is that you slap yourself," he reflects.

Another aspect that stands out is that it was in the opposition that the concept of the "big house of Catalanism" was coined, which "now some, in a different way, try to imitate." “I hope that something like this happens in Junts, which has to be a strong party and hopefully it will become central in Catalan politics”, wishes Mas, who in those years, as his colleagues describe today, became a “more solid” candidate ” and “more transversal”.

Both Corminas and Castellà emphasize, in a different order of things, that there was more internal debate in the parties. The organization secretary of the CDC coordinated the generational change of local leaders and highlights that at that time, when they had no institutional shelter and could not make great promises, "everything was very healthy" because they "had nothing to offer". "The people who got involved then have taken on responsibilities in the Parliament and in the Government in recent years, and some are still mayors," he says. "We were able to rearm from below and we had different people than there were in Jordi Pujol's time and that gave us a different image for the electorate," adds who ended up chairing the Junts pel Sí parliamentary group, a coalition of PDECat and ERC with other sovereigntist forces and entities in the 1-O referendum legislature.

The former leader believes that JxCat "has an ideological challenge." Although he acknowledges that in 2003 there was a continuity of the project that does not exist now, he assures that this “is not necessarily bad”. "Junts has to find its way now that it seems that ERC has chosen another strategy and even another space," he advises. "There is an opportunity to play hard with the assets you have, with a very clear pro-independence roadmap and without the bond of the Government," adds Corominas. "On a barren field you can build," he concludes.

Castellà points out that the debate within CiU and the two forces of the federation "was much more lively because there was no responsibility to govern." “It brought about a capacity to rearm itself and to have a debate about the space that CiU should cover”, he points out.

In the case of UDC, the pro-independence sector gained weight in those years, which gave stability to the formation, but the conflict between the different sensitivities, which came from afar, ended up exploding in 2015 with the vote of the militancy and the implosion of the party and, ultimately, of the federation. Before, when Mas was chosen by Pujol and not Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, leader of Unió, or when the party went into opposition in 2003, there was saber rattling and there was talk of a breakup, but nothing happened until June of 2015.

Regarding the present, the leader of Demòcrates, the sovereignist party heir to Unió –which has an electoral alliance with JxCat–, asserts that “we must prepare to accumulate more power in the next elections”. “It would be a mistake to give up governing”, he warns, and warns that it is necessary to “rethink strategies”, a duty that he also imposes on his training as an ally of Junts. "Going to the opposition meant shaking everything up and later relocating to go to the Government, it would be a mistake if this is not the case," he maintains.