The implosion of Jordi Pujol's CiU, its dismemberment and transformation into Junts per Catalunya is one of the most curious political ups and downs that has taken place in recent years. That coalition has already grown as a very particular phenomenon: a nationalist center-right covered with a moral leadership that managed to model a certain Catalan idiosyncrasy, which went beyond its partisan limits. Pujolismo was a clever symbiosis between the national axis (Catalonia/Spain) and the social axis (left/right). CiU was looking for indefiniteness as a virtue, although it was clear where to go (and where not).
That core party was breaking up into fragments (Democrates, Units per Avançar, Lliga Democràtica, Convergents, PDECat and Junts per Catalunya) out of nostalgia or simply out of sheer desire for survival. According to Enric Juliana's theory, in Convergència nothing is destroyed, it is only transformed. The convergent gene lies under the skin of Junts. The truth is that only in this way is it understood that, despite all the shocks, that force maintains a not inconsiderable social support. These days we are going to see how the convergents attend the independence demonstration of the Diada while the ERC shun it or send a commitment delegation. But above all we will see how the internal divergence in Junts on whether or not to continue in the Government is resolved. If Artur Mas sacrificed himself to the blackmail of the CUP to anchor his party to power and avoid another "desert crossing" outside the Generalitat, now in Junts there are not a few who believe the time has come to go to the opposition to defend what was cut short five years ago. On the one hand, a government of ERC and Junts is like one of PP and PSOE, which prevents those who do not have the presidency from acting as an alternative. On the other hand, the fish out of water has little future.
The Republicans have been trying to cross-dress in Convergència for more than a decade and, although it is costing them more than they thought, they have won the presidency of the Generalitat. And some believe that the departure of Junts would make their task easier.
We'll see what the postconvergents decide. In these years they have shown a great fondness for genetic engineering.
