For the CUP, popular mobilization is essential to move towards independence. Since they stood for the first time in the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia - in 2012 - they insist on it. But this engine has been down since the pandemic. So anti-capitalists, without abandoning that base, look for factors that, once put in place, will help achieve that objective. To do this, they propose building a "new Catalan economy" in view of the 12-M elections.
Under this concept, the list led by Laia Estrada includes, for example, shaping the universal basic income (UBI), creating a distributor and public energy company that goes beyond putting solar panels in public buildings, or ecological planning with the attention focused on safeguarding the agricultural sector while defending reindustrialization. The objective is to "guarantee the well-being" of Catalan citizens who, faced with "a situation of generalized impoverishment" today prioritize social policies.
The CUP also proposes increasing revenue through taxes on the richest, as well as expropriating empty apartments that are in the hands of large holders. "We are facing a predatory economic model, which concentrates wealth in few hands and which in Catalonia destroys the territory and commodifies basic needs," argue the people of Cupero.
In short, the CUP, while working to improve the conditions of citizens, is committed "to working to generate the conditions for the Catalan people to self-determine and achieve full political independence," according to the formation.
"We come from a legislature that was thrown overboard," the CUP considers, since they had "expectations to advance nationally and socially." "Pere we confirm that the Government of Pere Aragonès, with Junts first and then alone with the support of the PSC, dedicated itself to fulfilling the priorities of the employers' association and following the agenda of the reunion of the Spanish Government, of the macroprojects, applying a subsidiary policy of Madrid", they add.
The CUP is running for election with Laia Estrada at the head of the list for the Barcelona district. Dani Cornellà leads it in Girona; in Lleida, Bernat Lavaquiol, and in Tarragona, Sergi Saladié. In the legislature that is now expiring, the Cuperos have had nine deputies. Only after the Catalan elections of 2015 did they achieve greater representation, with ten seats.
The budget for the electoral campaign that begins on April 25 will clearly be the most modest compared to that of the rest of the parties. For this occasion, the anti-capitalists allocate 404,725 euros for expenses, which they will cover in their entirety with contributions from the national CUP (400,000 euros) - and donations (4,725 euros). The total expenditure figure is significantly lower than that of the 2021 Parliamentary elections, when they budgeted 547,000 euros.
