After years marked by independence activism above any other consideration, Junts embarks on a new process that consists of rescuing a good part of the features that characterized Convergència. It is a question of recovering the lost political prominence and social support in a context that has changed. Here are three symptoms that Junts is drinking from converging sources again:
First, the election of Xavier Trias as a candidate for mayor of Barcelona. What at first seemed like an occurrence even for the candidate himself, took shape from a very simple premise: to aspire to govern Barcelona, Junts had to be inspired by the model of the only CiU leader who had won the mayoralty of the city. Thinking about it and concluding that Trias himself had to embody that option was all one. The candidate has no qualms in admitting that he is convergent before anything else. In fact, he was a member of Pedecat and Junts at the same time when the split between the heirs of Convergència occurred. Trias wants to reach an agreement with Pedecat. He would like to include Joana Ortega, former leader of Unió and number two of Artur Mas in the 9-N organization, on his list. Although he has the backing of Carles Puigdemont, the mayor does not support his strategy of confrontation with the State and opts for greater pragmatism. He declares himself an independentist, but assumes that this is not a viable scenario in the short term. He has evaded explicit support for Laura Borràs (she has not accompanied her to court) nor was he seen at the demonstration on the occasion of the Spanish-French summit. And all without antagonizing anyone. Trias does not mark red lines either before possible pacts with the PSC. If he achieves the mayoralty, the return to Convergència will be more evident and faster
Second, the rehabilitation of Jordi Pujol. If Trias is convergent, Pujol is his father-in-law. And she does not deny him, she vindicates him. After the confession of the former president in 2014 about the money hidden in Andorra, most of those who made a political career in the shadow of the founder of Convergència became forgetful, they were ready to change the name of the device, to deny the past and to deliver the party to how many activists and independents furthest from politics were put within range. Lately, Pujol has starred in book presentations and has been the subject of formal and informal tributes in which there has been no shortage of Junts leaders, including some who were never active in Convergència.
Third, Junts approaches Artur Mas. His case is similar to that of Trias. The former president is still affiliated with Pedecat and not with Junts. Two years ago, in the Catalan election campaign, Mas participated in some Pedecat event at the insistence of its leaders, while Puigdemont's party preferred to keep its distance from him. Now, several Junts candidates have requested his presence in the municipal campaign. It is an example of how the scenario has changed. If before the parade of selfies in Waterloo predominated, now more moderate and management referents are sought.
It is not surprising that the intervention of the peneuvista Andoni Ortuzar in Foros de Vanguardia on February 21 attracted almost all the sensibilities that the convergent world has illuminated in recent years. The day before, the General Secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, had dinner with Ortuzar and his number two, Joseba Aurrekoetxea, and invited to the table not only the parliamentary head of Junts, Albert Batet, but also Mas and who was his Minister of Presidency , Quico Homs. The positions of the PNV are far from coinciding with those of Puigdemont.
This process of reconstruction of the convergent space, which will never be as it was in the past, but which no longer shies away from the points of connection with its past, is not exempt from contradictions. It advances, but along a path riddled with inconsistencies. One of the most obvious these days is related to the future of Borràs, president of Junts, an exponent of one of the branches that defends raising tension with the State and avoiding any collaboration that is not in exchange for an independence referendum. The party leadership has supported her during the trial in which she is accused of having irregularly cut up administration contracts to benefit a friend of hers. On the last day of the hearing, the entire leadership attended, but Borràs's support will be increasingly decimated if she is convicted. In that case, it is very possible that a party in the Parliament will request the Central Electoral Board to execute the disqualification and be stripped of its deputy status, as happened with Quim Torra. To prevent the charge from passing into the hands of ERC, Junts would have to negotiate with the PSC.
In Junts, the factions that want to recover the ability to exercise political influence, reaching agreements beyond independence and to win back the voter of order faithful to CiU, who has now scattered over ERC and PSC, but above all, try to make their way in Junts. has taken refuge in abstention. For this, not only the result that Trias obtains will be relevant, but also who will occupy the electoral poster of the generals. More and more Junts leaders aspire to compete with ERC, which now has exclusive rights to negotiations with the Pedro Sánchez government. In the image of Euskadi, where the PNV and Bildu dispute the role of defender of Basque interests in Madrid. It will also be essential to know the candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat if Borràs is finally thrown out of the race. It depends on how those pieces fit together, it will be seen if Junts is capable of recovering the space and force that one day dominated Catalan (and Spanish) politics.
