Making last-minute decisions is part of Junts' DNA. So much so that it is now common to hear from some of its leaders a sentence that is attributed to Julius Caesar to avoid evaluating today what may happen tomorrow: “When we reach that river, we will cross that bridge.” A phrase that gained fortune in the preparations for the 1-O referendum and that resonates today if you ask about the JxCat candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat. There are three names on the table: that of former president Carles Puigdemont and that of former councilors Jordi Turull, general secretary, and Josep Rull, president of the national council.
The interim situation that has often arisen due to matters related to the process and its judicial aspect has helped the habit of waiting until the last moment to lean towards one option or another at some times, but in others in which a different scenario could occur, it has also been has adopted this practice, such as in the preparation of the candidacy for the 2022 internal congress, when there was an agreement on the horn between Turull and Laura Borràs that avoided the confrontation of projects.
With last year's municipal and general electoral cycle over, it's time to think about the next one, which in Catalonia, if there is no surprise advance, will have as its first date the European elections in June and then, at the end of the year or the beginning of 2025, the parliamentary elections. For now, Junts does not have a designated candidate and whenever it is asked about it, the leaders of the formation take shelter under the long shadow of the party's factual leader, Puigdemont.
The candidate pleading with the approval of the amnesty law with the PSOE was Rull. The Egarense leader is free of disqualification penalties. On the other hand, the other two who are considered to be at the top of the list, Turull and the former president, would have found it impossible without criminal oblivion.
With the current script, the amnesty law will be published in the Official State Gazette in spring after a first approval in the Congress of Deputies at the end of January and two months fallow in the Senate due to the reform of the regulations engineered by the PP .
Thus, the possibility of it coming into force and having consequences in the judicial field may condition the appointment of candidates in Junts – also in Esquerra. But that does not prevent several leaders from considering that a candidate should now be formally designated who will travel throughout Catalonia and take positions in the foreground, although the panorama may change in the coming months.
Various voices are spoken in this sense and Rull's name emerges for this purpose, since the schedule for the application of the amnesty is uncertain. They argue that he is the person who, if there are early elections, can lead the candidacy.
These consulted leaders see with fear that the PSC is gaining ground as an alternative to the Government little by little with Salvador Illa, now head of the opposition, as a consolidated candidate.
The music is not new, before the municipal elections there were already those in the JxCat management who believed that the candidate had to be appointed in the summer, but the general elections altered the panorama.
In 2015, in the midst of the competition between Rull and Turull to lead the party – then Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya – the Solomonic decision and the formula used to fit the pieces together was that the first was preserved for a more institutional role and that the second took the lead. formation command. That recipe could be recovered now, although no one wants to give their opinion on it in public.
Former president Artur Mas, in a recent interview, pointed out that it would be Puigdemont who would make the decision, since if he takes the step no one will. It is taken for granted that if the now MEP wants to lead the Junts candidacy for the presidency of the Generalitat, everyone will follow his lead. But he has not spoken in that regard yet.
In any case, naming Rull does not prevent that if the amnesty is applied on time, at the last moment, another candidate can be appointed, such as the former president, who for now only has the European elections in mind, or Turull himself. . In any case, party sources see it as difficult for Puigdemont to lead a candidacy for the presidency at the current time, in which a fragmented Parliament is expected. “To do what? With what alliances? ”, ask these sources, who believe that he is not a figure who can fight and wear down now in the regional arena.
It so happens that some voices that ask that a candidate be appointed now to set a profile also consider that perhaps it is time to hold a congress to consolidate the change of course that the party has gradually undertaken in recent months. However, the official position of the leadership, for now, is not this, both in relation to the candidate and the holding of a congress. There is still time, they say.
