The general secretary of Esquerra Republicana, Marta Rovira, rules out an imminent return to Catalonia because she considers that the current situation "does not provide guarantees". In statements to RAC1, the ERC leader has been prudent in this regard, awaiting the position taken by Supreme Court judge Manuel Marchena on how the reform of the Penal Code affects those convicted of the process. Rovira has thus cooled a possible return that she herself had nurtured in recent days after Pablo Llarena's interlocutory for which she only charged him with the crime of disobedience.
"I don't feel that I have the guarantees to return," said the Republican general secretary. After the repeal of sedition, and Llarena's decision to rule out aggravated public disorder, Rovira is accused of disobedience. Even so, there is the paradox that the prosecution made by the investigating judge in March 2018 for rebellion remains in force. This is a key aspect to understand the doubts of the ERC leader, as well as the possible "secret causes", as she has recalled, that can be opened in the future, such as the one related to the Democratic Tsunami.
On the other hand, Marta Rovira has charged against Carles Puigdemont's lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, who hinted a few days ago that the Prosecutor's Office and ERC had reached an agreement on his personal situation, after the repeal of sedition. "They are very beastly statements," said the ERC leader. She has criticized Boye for speaking "without legal rigor" and for "wearing down" the Republicans. "He accuses me of treason after having given my life for our country to progress," she has sentenced.
Precisely about the reform of the Penal Code, and especially in the area of negotiations, Rovira has acknowledged contacts with ministers from United We Can, but has not specified if any of them have visited him in Geneva, where he has resided since 2018.
Rovira explained that ERC opted for the reform as a result of the existing "consensus" in Catalonia and other Spanish actors, and also internationally. In this sense, he has recalled the positions of the Assembly of Representatives of the Council of Europe or a United Nations rapporteur, who advocated eliminating sedition. Likewise, the general secretary of the formation has boasted of the agreement with the Government about this crime: "They told us that it would be impossible to repeal it."
However, it has recognized that these legal modifications are not having all the expected effects, after the writings of the Prosecutor's Office and the State Attorney's Office and the interlocutory of the Supreme Court. Even so, he believes that this favors the ERC strategy, because the objective was not "personal effects", but to make visible the "contradictions" of the State. "It's fantastic," according to Rovira, because it allows "opening the eyes of more people."
